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THE 


ROMANCE 

OF THE 

NEW BETHESDA 


BY 

/ 

JANE LIPPITT PATTERSON 

AUTHOR OF “victory” AND “ OUT OF SIGHT*’ 






PiUG 

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Of^ ■ , 





BOSTON 

UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE 

i888 


O 




Copyright, 1888, 

By The Universalist Publishing House. 


Snibersttg IPress: 

John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 


TO 


STfje jUtemors of tje J^ostcgsj, 

WHO ENTERED UPON THE HEAVENLY INHERITANCE JUST AS 

hope’s earthly visions were taking on 

THE VESTMENTS OF REALITY, 

YET WHOSE SERENE AND PERVASIVE SPIRIT STILL LIVES IN 
THE IDEAL SUMMER HOME 
CROWNING THE HEIGHTS ABOVE KINGDOM STATION, 

0:|)fs Volume 

WHICH RECORDS HOW LOVERS WERE SAVED TO EACH OTHER 
TO BECOME AN EXAMPLE OF THE IDEAL FAMILY 
LIFE, BY THE MIHACLE HELP OF 
THE NEW BETHESDA, 

IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. 

J. L. P. 



I 



CONTENTS. 

■ ■ 

Chapter Page 

I. Toward the North Star 7 

II. The Hayrick Ride 22 

III. Sowing to the Wind 34 

IV. A Premonition 47 

V. Galilee Talks 56 

VI. Realized Hopes 66 

VII. Every Breath a Delight 76 

VIII. Debatable Ground 85 

IX. Ered Douglas 96 

X. “ Lend a Hand ” 105 

XI. Expectation 115 

XII. The Beautiful Teacher 124 

XIII. Mental Tonic 134 

XIV. A Holiday Opportunity 146 

XV. Her Nebulous Career 155 

XVI. Confession 165 

XVII. A Wonderful Web .174 

XVIII. Like her Mother 187 


VI 

Chapter 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

XIX. Repeated Visions . . 198 

XX. The Dream Revealed 209 

XXL Nor Love, but a Bargain 222 

XXIL The Hush of Death 233 

XXIII. Forethought 244 

XXIV. Eventful Years 

XXY. Not a Spectacle for Criticism 273 

XXVI. To Each his Portion 284 

XXVII. The Upper Calm ..... ono 


THE ROMANCE 


OP 


THE NEW BETHESDA 


CHAPTER I. 


TOWARD -THE NORTH STAR. 


INGDOM STATION ! This is the place, and 



I am tired enough to be glad to leave these 


dusty cars.’’ 

“ Charles, it cannot be ! Who expected to land in a 
wilderness ? Maine is an old State, and I thought the 
New Bethesda would be in some lovely and cultivated 
portion.” 

^‘We have not reached the New Bethesda. There 
are four or five miles of mountain road. I wonder 
where the stage is ? ” 

Charles and Catharine Raynor look about the dingy 
station. There is no life in sight except the ticket 
agent. They make inquiries. 

Stage to the New Bethesda! Guess not. You’ll 
never see a stage runnin’ over them roads, never I ” 
But how do the sick people reach the Spring ? ” 
Don’t many sick people go; Rossville’s one- 
hoss wagon is enough to tote all the folks that’s 
fools enough to come here, just to drink nothin’ 
but water.” 


8 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

We did not announce our arrival, and expected a 
coach.’^ 

You ’ll see one of the boys trottin’ in. They come 
to the train, mostly. They ’ve sort o’ got in the way 
of expectin’ somebody.” 

Charles and Kate, wondering how anybody could 
come trottin’ ” over such rough roads, looked away 
toward the hills which lift their wooded heights about 
Kingdom Station, and sure enough there was ^‘Eoss- 
ville’s one-hoss wagon ” coming with a speed to startle 
Jehu himself. 

Hugh Kossville, the Jehu driver, leaves his tired 
steed and looks about the station for packages destined 
to the Old Stage Tavern, and such letters and papers 
as make up the mail. Mr. Eaynor arranges for his 
own transport, and sits down to await the conven- 
ience of the young man. 

With lawyer-like perception he takes in the bright 
parts of this embryo Yankee, a type with which he is 
but just becoming acquainted. In the land of Friends 
whence he has journeyed there is more repose, a kind 
of leisurely waiting for something to turn up, while 
the genuine Yankee impresses him with his determi- 
nation to make the world move somewhat after his 
own energetic wish. This visit to New England had 
not been undertaken for pleasure. Esquire Eaynor 
had not been one of those who take life restfully, after 
the fashion of the typical Friend. Of a nervous tem- 
perament, he had driven his work like a two-in-hand 
team on a race-course, until he had suddenly come to a 
precipice. With one startled glance he confronted the 
danger, seeing no possible way of escape, until some- 


TOWARD THE NORTH STAR. 


9 


body who had emigrated from that vicinity told him 
about the miracles wrought by the New Bethesda. 
All that a man hath will he give for his life; and 
Charles Eaynor grasped at the straw held out to 
him. 

He was just forty years old, in the very prime of 
his strength and usefulness. He could not afford to 
die. He had four sons and a daughter to educate, 
a large and growing practice to carry on, the prospect 
of a seat in the Capitol should he allow the use of his 
name ; and besides, he knew it would absolutely kill 
his wife to lose him. Esquire Baynor’s was a happy 
marriage. A good deal of romance had gathered 
about it, and. the light, and summer weather of youth 
were deepened and glorified by the passage of the 
years. He was a very considerate and kind husband 
and father. ^^Put yourself in his place,” was the 
motto of his life, and he tried in all family and social 
relations to do as he would be done by. In the law, 
if he could not defend the righteous cause he would 
leave the case to a less sensitive conscience. Kate 
was a plain, sensible girl, and she matured roundly 
and righteously. She appreciated and almost adored 
her husband. 

As they left the train at Kingdom Station, she 
helped him carefully down the steps, and he took her 
arm in walking. He looked ill. There was a deathly 
pallor about his ears and neck, and the impress of 
pain on his lips and forehead. The journey had been 
undertaken by Mrs. Kaynor with scarcely a ray of 
hope ; and when her husband compared the motion of 
the cars to little sharp saws severing nerves as sensi- 


10 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

tiTe as pain could make them, her heart sank within 
her, — 

“ As in wells the water sinks before an earthquake’s shock.” 

Hugh is ready to start, and Kate helps her invalid 
husband climb into the wagon ; the trunk and hand- 
bags have already been placed in position, and the jolt- 
ing process begins. If the motion of the cars had cut 
like little knives or sharp-toothed saws, where could 
comparison be found for the movement of this uncom- 
fortable vehicle over a stony and gullied mountain 
road ? They try to forget in conversation the sting- 
ing pangs. I say they advisedly, for every pain which 
Charles Kaynor felt, was like a stab in the live heart 
of his wife. 

‘^How many does your hotel accommodate ? 

Thirty, mebbe, by crowdin’. We ’ve been puttin’ 
on more rooms. It’s the Old Stage Tavern.” 

‘‘How did you come to know that the Spring was 
medicinal ? ” 

“ As long ago as the farm was cleared the men found 
out they felt better when they filled their jugs out of 
this Spring, and some of ’em that was ailin’ got well.” 

“ But how long since people began to come here for 
the benefit of the water ? ” 

“ Only a little while. Ten years would more than 
cover it. First one came, and then more. You see 
it cures every time, and they tell of it and send their 
friends. I reckon you ’ve come quite a piece ? ” 

“A journey of seven hundred miles, my young 
friend; and if the journey does not kill me there 
may be some chance for the Spring to cure me.” 


TOWARD THE NORTH STAR. H 

They were now reaching the steepest portions of 
the road, and the roughness did not diminish with 
the ascent. Mr. Kaynor held himself in semi-sus- 
pension by grasping the wagon-seat with his hands. 
Mrs. Kaynor tried to help him sustain the shocks of 
the stony way, while her face wore a look of anguish 
pitiful to behold. 

There needed to be -a, large infusion of faith in the 
Kew Bethesda to bridge the passage from Kingdom 
Station to its crystal depths ; and really this mun- 
dane shaking was removing the tired pair farther and 
farther from the spiritual realm. But all things 
earthly have an end. It is so with a rough mountain 
road. It is so with the seas of difficulty and distress 
through which at times we must needs wade, — the 
dark waters to our very lips. The wooded way is 
overpast, and on the border of a green meadow the 
tired horse halts. At the right is a small enclosure, 
and under its roof the Kew Bethesda. Hugh alights, 
and brings the travellers a refreshing draught in a tin 
cup. It holds a pint, and Mr. Kaynor is told that he 
must drink it all. He sips gingerly. 

^^It is jus.t like any water. It does not taste a bit 
better than our well. Try it, Kate.’’ Kate tries it, 
and being thirsty drains the last drop. It is good 
pure water and she likes it. 

Take another cupful. Mister ? ” 

^^Ko more, thank you. I could not drink another 
drop ; ” and Hugh leaps into the wagon and drives 
up the green meadow path until the summit of the 
hill is at length reached, and then over a slightly- 
inclined way to the Old Stage Tavern. 


12 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

The travellers go to their room, — a small corner 
bedroom with two windows, one of them looking to- 
ward the sunset. It will be an hour to supper-time, 
and Mr. Eaynor, utterly tired out, falls asleep. Kate 
moves noiselessly about, bathing in the bright water, 
and putting on fresh garments. Then she takes in 
the sunset view. It is magnificent. Already a de- 
gree of rest is stealing into heart and brain. She 
takes up a Bible from the little table and reads again 
the grand old promises which have girded her so many 
times; ''He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. 
He that keepeth thee will not slumber.’’ 

“ Charles is sleeping so restfully, it is a pity that 
resounding bell should strike just now,” she says to 
herself. But he is a light sleeper, and its first crash 
wakens him. 

“ It means supper, I suppose,” he says, starting up ; 
"and I am positively hungry.” Kate smooths his 
hair, and they go down the one short flight to a large, 
plain dining-room. The table is amply supplied with 
nutritious and well-cooked food. This, Kate is glad 
to find, for she herself is an adept in the culinary art, 
and therefore Charles a connoisseur. They are re- 
freshed, and she leads him to the piazza and points 
out the sunset hills. He looks in a half-hearted man- 
ner and turns away, saying, — 

Some other time ; some other time. I am too 
sleepy to see, and too tired to know a sunset cloud 
from a farthing candle.” 

Mr. Eaynor again sips faithlessly from the water 
supplied to every room, and is soon asleep. Kate 
watches awhile to see if he is breathing regularly. 


TOWAED THE NORTH STAR. 


13 


and tliGn she confides in the watch of Him who never 
slumbers, for she needs rest. 

The twenty guests who had sat before them like 
misty shadows at the supper-table were individually 
defined in the morning light. Some introductions 
were passed. They were people from the near cities, 
Boston the most distant representative. Kate was an 
eager reader of human faces, and a dark-eyed Boston 
youth who sat near interested her. He had an intelli- 
gent face and manner. They called him Nickerson. 
She had heard of the characteristics of representative 

Hub people, and was glad to see the type corre- 
spond with the heraldry of song and story. The at- 
home atmosphere was pleasing. Ladies wore calico 
wrappers and looked comfortable. They had evidently 
come for rest, and not for dress parade. The bright 
little daughter of the house who served the tables, 
her smiling face unclouded by the most unreasonable 
demands, was in herself a study. She saw the hostess, 
a tall, strong woman, with a serene face, as though no 
sorrow ever stirred her heart. She went about her 
cares, herself a harder toiler than her servants, and to 
her supervision the appetizing table was largely in- 
debted. She was a woman of few words. She talked 
well when called out on any question of interest; but 
she revealed her womanly worth in deeds, not words, 
guiding her house with discretion, and making of each 
guest a family member. 

After breakfast Charles felt well enough to sit 
awhile on the piazza and get the bearings of the place. 
He looked away from the rickety barns, which after 
New England fashion were almost a part of the house 


14 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

itself, so near was their location, to the hills across an 
adjacent valley. 

Something like the Alleghanies, Kate, about 
Vinetown.” 

Kate was glad to have him observe a home-likeness 
in the scenery. This would help him to the content 
which is in itself a part of convalescence. 

Any boats on the lake to Hugh passing toward 
the barn. 

Kobody cares for boats here.’^ 

How shall we pass our time ? Getting well is 
tiresome business.” 

They mostly ride over to the Shakers, and have 
hammocks in the woods, — that, and going to the 
Spring. Go to the Spring three times a day, regular. 
I tell ye there ’s enough to do.” 

The woods ! Why, yes, there ’s a pine forest 
just back of the house. Kate, did we bring our 
hammock ? ” 

Being assured that the hammock was safe in the 
bottom of the trunk, Mr. Baynor leaned back in his 
easy-chair and feasted his eyes upon the hills. He 
had a native love for high land. Mountains and great 
elevations were his delight. He felt at home on the 
highest spots of earth. He was born on the dividing 
ridge between the Atlantic and the Ohio, and doubt- 
less this love of the tops of things was inherited. 
Then as the dew dried off the grass they went to the 
pines and swung their hammock. While Charles 
rested in the most listless way, Kate read to him from 
George Eliot’s latest novel, or humored his mood by 
silence. He declined riding to the Spring, wishing to 


TOWARD THE NORTH STAR. 15 

get healed of yesterday’s hurts before trying the one- 
horse wagon again. 

While walking down the soft pine-carpeted path at 
the call of the dinner-bell, they met for the first time 
the proprietor of the Old Stage Tavern, Mr. Rossville 
himself, who hailed them right heartily. 

I suppose you are the new arrivals. I had to go to 
the county seat yesterday on business, and was pretty 
late getting home, and slow in turning out this morn- 
ing. My Hugh says youVe come all the way from 
Pennsylvania ? 

Yes, we have heard of your Spring even there.’’ 

“The fame of this Spring will go all over this 
country. It will go all over Europe too. I ’ve had a 
vision, and seen people coming here from all parts of 
the world, — coming to be healed ; and they were 
healed every time. I suppose you ’re sick, or you never 
would come so far. Pains about your back ?” 

Being assured tliat the back was the one weak spot 
in the Kaynor constitution, and that the pains had 
continued until the lawyer’s proverbial backbone 
seemed only a memory, Mr. Bossville continued : — • 

“The Hew Bethesda will make you as strong as 
Samson. You’ll forget in a month’s time >hat you 
ever had backache, or any other ache. There was 
Judge Hallet came here last year so weak we had to 
bring him up on a bed. He stayed three weeks, aud 
when he left, walked all the way to Kingdom Station. 
Worse off than you are ! All you have to do, is to 
drink the water and it will cure you.” 

The enthusiasm of Mr. Bossville was reassuring, and 
Esquire Baynor actually drank a tumblerful before 


16 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

dinner, — a feat which one hour ago he would have 
deemed impossible. He did full justice to the ample 
table, and remarked, on returning to the pines, that he 
believed his appetite was improving. 

Kate had used her eyes at the table and descried a 
new face. 

^‘Did you notice, Charles, a young lady with that 
elegant Bostonian ? 

‘^No, Kate; I was so intent on the one subject be- 
fore us, I hardly saw the people; I don’t believe I 
spoke to Nickerson.” 

Why, Charles ! He is altogether the most inter- 
esting guest here. You ought to cultivate his acc^uain- 
tance. He is a brother lawyer, too. ” 

How did you learn all that so soon ? ” 

Susie, the little waiter, told me. The girl was 
right pretty, a beautiful contrast, with her blue eyes 
and yellow curls, to his dark complexion. I don’t 
think she can be his sister, though Susie says he is 
here for his health, and perhaps his sister might have 
come to keep him company. Sometimes you see those 
contrasts in the same family. It will be ever so much 
more interesting if she is his sweetheart.” 

Oh, Katy, you will never get over being interested 
in lovers ! ” 

“ Why should I, Charles ? Love is the most inter- 
esting thing in the world — ” 

^^You forget the New Bethesda, that is going to 
be famous in all parts of the civilized globe.” 

“ The New Bethesda is interesting because it saves 
lovers to each other. If it cures you, Charley, it will 
be love’s friend and helper. I make no doubt Judge 


TOWARD THE NORTH STAR. 17 

Hallet, too, had a- wife and children. Life is fearfully 
short, anyway. Nobody wants to die at forty,— no- 
body who has a lover. 

Just then young Nickerson with the blond lady 
drew near. He bore on his arm a fine manila ham- 
mock. She helped him adjust it to the slender pines, 
and then they both sat in it, a book between them. 

Charles saw the arrangement, and lifted himself 
from his reclining posture, inviting Kate to share the 
hammock with him. 

No, Charles ; he is not nearly so sick as you are, 
and he has not journeyed seven hundred miles. You 
must keep lying down until you are rested ; then it 
will be time enough to pattern after the Boston lawyer 
and his sweetheart.’’ 

You are sure she is a sweetheart, Kate ? ” 

Just seeing them together proves that. Girls that 
are not sweethearts do not look at men in such con- 
fiding ways. If they do, we say they are not good 
girls.” 

But sisters might.” 

''Not just like that, Charles, you know !” 

Charles was convinced of the relations between Mr. 
Nickerson and the blond lady, and the reading went 
on; Kate measuring the involved sentences of the 
story until her husband was lulled to sleep. Then 
she leaned back in her easy-chair, and indulged in 
a dream of home. She had never journeyed so far 
from the children, and a mother’s anxiety obtruded 
at times amid her hopeful thoughts. She thrust it 
resolutely aside. They were well protected. Grand- 
mother would guard them, and faithful Dinah supply 
2 


18 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

their daily needs, and above all was the Watcher of 
even little sparrows ! How drowsy the voice of the 
light wind among the pines ! The flies buzzed in 
monotone ; a distant haymaker stopped to whet his 
scythe; the noises about the barn grew indistinct, 
and a light shadow fell across the face of the sun. 

Catharine ! what does this mean ? It is six o’clock. 

I never slept so soundly in my life, — or not since I 
was a child. I fear it will hurt me. You should 
have wakened me, Catharine.” 

Catharine,” fully herself now, and all of a tremor 
because of the measured intonations of her name and 
the implied rebuke, — Charles always called her Kate 
or Katy, unless in a rebukeful mood, — started to her 
feet and tried to think where she was, and what 
strange oblivion had come over her. 

Why, Charley ! we came here right after dinner, 
did n’t we ? and I read, and we talked about the lovers. 

I must have been asleep too, Charles, and how could I 
waken you? Yes, my neck is lame from tip-tilting 
against the chair-back. I am very sorry, dear. But 
I don’t think it will hurt you. At any rate, the water, 
Charles, — the water will make amends for the mis- 
chief of the long nap.” 

While untying the hammock they heard the invit- 
ing supper-bell. Charles, seeing his wife’s real anx- 
iety, conceded that perhaps he had been unduly 
alarmed, and the nap might not hurt him, after all. 

But I don’t understand it, Katy. It must be the 
effect of the open air ; you know when I went down 
to Virginia, I told you I slept better in camp with 
the soldiers than ever before. Yes, it is the open 


TOWARD THE NORTH STAR. 


19 


air, and this silence too. It is the most quiet place 
possible.’’ 

Mr. Eossville was on the piazza when the pair came 
up, and they told him about the afternoon sleep; 
Esquire Eaynor adding that it was doubtless the 
effect of the open air. 

^^Yes, the open air did something towards it. The 
air here is very soothing. It rests nervous people 
right off. But the main thing, ’Squire, is the water. 
A girl came here year afore last, and she had n’t 
slept all night for ten months, and the very first night 
she slept so heavy her mother had to shake her right 
smart to wake her at all, and it was ten o’clock in the 
morning.” 

It can hardly be the water, with me. I have drunk 
too little to have any marked effect as yet.” 

What did you come here for, — to just see the 
New Bethesda, and not let the angel put you in ? 
The water, I tell ye, will cure, if you drink enough 
of it; but it won’t do any good if you leave it in- 
side the Spring. How much do you drink ? A 
goblet full ! You go in and get your supper, and 
then I ’ll show ye how to drink ! ” And the old man 
stalked away half angry at ’Squire Eaynor’s delicate 
sipping. 

How happy they look ! ” Kate whispered to 
Charles, meaning the Boston lawyer and the blond 
lady. ^^He ought to introduce her. Maybe he 
will if we give him a chance. Let us go to the 
piazza. I notice they sit there awhile after leaving 
the table.” 

Yes, if you like ; ” and they moved to the coveted 


20 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

spot where everybody could see the lights and shadows 
about the sunset hills. 

He did introduce her, — Miss Ingalls,’’ of Cam- 
bridge. Afterward they learned that her given name 
was Gertrude. He called her Gerty. She was a grace- 
ful creature in form and manners, and Kate was quite 
in love with her before the short watch suddenly came 
to an end by the appearance of Mr. Eossville bearing 
a three-pint water-pitcher. 

‘^Kow, look here, young man from Pennsylvania, 
you are tired yet, and need a good deal of sleep. I ’m 
the Doctor of this hotel, and you just go upstairs while 
I prescribe for ye.” 

’Squire Eaynor made ready to obey, and Kate, too, 
rose as if to accompany him. Doctor Eossville turned 
to her with an imperative gesture. 

You can stay here fifteen or twenty minutes. It 
won’t take me longer than that to diagnose your hus- 
band ; he needs somebody to make him do what he 
ought to.” 

Kate had a little longer time to call the interest of 
the lovers outside of themselves, and then she, too, 
went to her chamber. On the way she met the Doctor. 
In passing, he said, ‘‘You just make him do as I tell 
him, or he ’ll die within three months.” 

With such a heavy issue to face, Mrs. Eaynor 
hurried on. Charles was in bed, holding the water- 
pitcher to his lips. 

“ He says I must drink this pitcherful before I go 
to sleep, Kate. It seems impossible.” 

But Charles Eaynor, who had not admitted the im- 
possible into his manner of life heretofore, summoned 


TOWAED THE NOETH STAE. 21 

some of the energy of his days of health, and deter- 
mined to obey. Before eight o’clock the empty pitcher 
slipped from his sleepy hands with a faint jingle, and 
he forgot in sweet oblivion the imperative order of 
the Doctor. 

He was surprised, as he began to move about next 
day, to find himself much improved. When the one- 
horse-wagon was harnessed to transport invalids to 
the Spring, he took a seat with the rest. His faith 
had received wonderful stimulus, and he followed the 
Doctor’s orders as to the quantity needed to cure. 
Three times a day he jolted down to the Spring and 
emptied the rusty pint. In a few days Kate was 
delighted to find him ready for a walk through the 
long path, where they revelled in the beauty of the 
sylvan solitude, stooping to gather many known and 
new growths that made the ground like a tufted 
carpet. How glorious it was to be able to climb from 
rock to rock, to run a little in this out-of-sight place, 
and remember, and in a measure feel, the invigorating 
pulse of youth! 

The croquet-ground charmed him. He had not 
played much since childhood. Even the posture neces- 
sary here did not bring back the menacing pain, and 
when one evening, as the guests watched the lights 
about the near and distant hills, some one proposed 
an excursion the next day with the ox-team and hay- 
rick, ’Squire Eaynor entered into the project with the 
glad abandon of a school-boy. 


22 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER II. 

THE HAYRICK RIDE. 

I T bronglit back the sceues of long ago when Charles 
and Kate made holiday among the haymakers, to 
see the ox-cart waiting before the hotel for its merry 
passengers. A comfortable bed of hay was placed in 
the bottom of the cart, — which, by the way, was a four- 
wheeled farm-wagon, and not a cart at all, — and some 
of the ladies reclined on the hay, while others pre- 
ferred hassocks or low chairs. Kate and Gerty Ingalls, 
near together, caressed the scented hay as though it 
were a long-lost friend. Mr. Nickerson had not yet 
appeared, and while they talked of possible room for 
him next to ’Squire Raynor, he came out equipped for 
the excursion. A pair of high-topped boots, with red 
morocco facings, kid gloves, and a panama hat were 
the distinguishing articles of his attire. He took the 
ox-goad and began to speak that almost forgotten 
tongue which none but oxen understand : Gee ! 
Haw!” The oxen started. Those who remembered 
a youth on the farm laughed for very joy, and the 
others made merry over the singular vehicle, the slow 
team, and the exquisite driver. Hugh Rossville fol- 
lowed after, not daring to trust the team with its valu- 
able load to the wisdom of only a Boston lawyer ; but 
before they had proceeded far he said to himself, “ That 
stuck-up chap has driv’ oxen afore, with wuss clothes 


THE HAYRICK RIDE. 


23 


on too ; ” which was really the fact. Mr. Kickerson 
took occasion to tell the company of his .farm-life in 
Vermont, and how like the charm of a vision such 
phases as this came back to him. 

The objective point of the excursion was the Shaker 
• Village, some three or four miles away. Interest 
always attaches to singular people and phenomenal 
habits of life. The average Yankee will go a long 
way to see a man with his uncut locks reaching his 
shoulders, even though the man would be several de- 
grees handsomer trimmed after ordinary models. If 
the minister advertises to slide down the pulpit balus- 
trade, all the city will be agog. The hunger for sensa- 
tion makes the world of to-day first cousin to the 
Bereans, who spent their time in hunting for some 
new thing. 

Charles and Kate had never seen a Shaker, and with 
their wholesome ideas of love and marriage, some- 
thing uncanny was associated with the very name. 

Only think ! Homes without the presence of little 
children ; without the free domestic affections ; never 
a kiss, never a loving word ! It must be a horrible 
life, Charles.” 

They live it in the name of religion. It is one of 
the extremes which piety has taken on. But they do 
have little children. Sometimes whole families come 
to them. Sometimes they adopt children.” 

A child would grow into a mummy brought up in 
such a place.” 

^^Oh, no 5 it would not kill him outright, but he 
would have to be swathed somewhat curiously for our 
time.” 


24 THE BOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

After passing one of the long hills Mr. Nickerson 
grows weary, climbs into the hayrick, and Hugh 
takes the goad. There is perfect harmony now be- 
tween team and driver. Hugh is apparelled as a 
young man should be ; he is dressed according to his 
work. 

You seem out of breath, Eobert ; you have walked 
too far/’ says Gertrude, with the anxious, caressing 
tone of a loving woman. 

Yes, Gerty ; the fun of it carried me beyond my 
strength, but this easy jog will rest me again. It is 
ten years since I touched an ox-goad, and it was posi- 
tively refreshing to lay my hand on a little imple- 
ment that is so thoroughly alive with the memories 
of childhood. You don’t know the pictures which 
have passed in review while we have climbed and 
descended this tame old hill.” 

They climb another hill, and the Shaker Village is 
in sight. It is simply a collection of buildings rep- 
resenting the home life and industries of a small 
Community. The distinguishing trait of the Shaker 
is industry. He works from morning until evening 
without giving Satan a loophole of approach. He 
has heard, and believes in the adage, that his Majesty 

finds some mischief for idle hands to do.” Whether 
thought ceases its daring flights, and the tempting 
world is no longer visited on invisible wings, not 
being a clairvoyant, we cannot state. As the ox- 
team approaches the entrance to this latter-day Eden, 
Kate is sparkling with curiosity. A solemn Elder 
comes out to welcome them. She pinches Charley’s 
arm and whispers, ^‘Look at his hair, — down to 


THE HAYRICK RIDE. 25 

his shoulders behind, and in front cut ^punkin 
fashion.’ ” 

‘‘ ‘ Punkin fashion ’ ? ” 

Yes ; that is what mother used to call that square 
cut across the forehead. She hated it, and said it 
made a child look like an idiot. I never saw it on 
grown folks before.” 

The party alight and follow their guide to the female 
house of industry. Here they see women, young, 
middle-aged, and old, with pale faces, and smooth hair 
covered with muslin caps. Their print dresses are 
scant and straight, their white kerchiefs are crossed 
over hearts which seem dull to life’s ordinary interests. 
They are meekness personified, and Kate invests them 
with all the beatitudes. They exhibit some of their 
work-rooms, but soon bring to view articles of their 
own manufacture. They are deft with the needle, 
and skilful in weaving straw and splints, and in wood- 
carving. They expect the chance visitor to purchase 
their wares ; and as one and another of the company 
select some article, it is apparent that the Shaker can 
look out for the highest price as readily as his less 
pious neighbor. Por each souvenir, almost its weight 
in gold is counted out. The women talk easily and 
well ; they seem refined in spirit, and with much of 
the knowledge that goes to make up correct English 
speech. 

“They are smarter than the men, Charley,” says 
Mrs. Kaynor, as they walk across the green to the 
stone house. 

“ There is one thing that all women will like about 
the Shakers, — their leader was a woman, and they 


26 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


bring their women to the front ; and if they do not 
quite worship them as superior beings, they listen 
to them with deference in the Sunday meetings, and 
follow their lead in many ways.’^ 

Those ^ punkin-cut ’ men look as though they needed 
to be led. Why will men submit to a fashion that makes 
them look like idiots ? 

Keligion, Kate. They wear the ^ punkin-cut,’ as 
you call it, in the name of religion. It is as sacred 
to them as the monk’s shave is to him.” 

^^ po you believe the Lord likes to have people do 
silly things in the name of religion ? ” 

suppose He winks at it, Katy. He knows we are • 
all a set of weak babies at the best.” 


We have no right to be babies in ignorance. He 
has done everything to make us grow in knowledge 
and righteousness, which is right living and acting; 
even a comely appearance is part of our duty.” 

The women are comely ; you don’t object to the 
way they apparel themselves ? ” 

‘^Yes, I do. Ko woman has a right to cover her 
beautiful hair, which is God’s direct gift to her, with 
a scrap of cotton, no matter how fine it is. Ko fabric 
woven and constructed by human hands can equal the 
hair. The glory of a woman is her hair.” 

“But, Katy, they are all ahead of us. We must 
overtake them, or perhaps the door will be shut.” 

They hurry on, and enter the stone house. Signs 
of industry everywhere, — cheeses, apple-sauce, dried 
fruit, herbs in aromatic bundles. 

“Everything of any sort of use seems to be done 
by the women, Charley. They preach on Sunday, and 


THE HAYRICK RIDE. 27 

turn all the wheels of the little productive mills during 
the week.’’ 

The men carry on the farm. They don’t allow the 
women to rake hay or bind bundles.” 

Women raked and bound all those bundles of 
herbs, I ’ll warrant you, ’Squire Eaynor. Maybe they 
didn’t make the cheese-hoops, but they bound the 
cheese.” 

‘^Yes, Katy, very likely. I told you women are 
first in Shaker communities.” 

What sort of men and women can they be to con- 
tent themselves with this life ? Fancy Nickerson and 
Miss Ingalls in Shaker garb, or you and me, Charley ! ” 

^‘If Nickerson should forsake the blond lady, she 
might find solace for her disappointment in such a 
community as this.” 

‘‘ She would n’t. She ’d mourn awhile, and then set 
her cap for another man.” 

^^Disappointed men and women are most easily 
attracted by extremes in life. I don’t mean love dis- 
appointments wholly. There are disappointments in 
the line of ambition and business, — they may come 
from various causes ; but if you could read the secret 
history of the people here, you would find that they 
got out of sorts with the world for some reason before 
becoming absorbed with this religious craze.” 

Have n’t we looked long enough, Charley ? It 
makes me feel unhappy to see people who. have no- 
body to love ; and it is really painful to see all these 
dried things, and know that they were gathered with- 
out the inspiration of love.” 

They love each other in a high religious way.” 


28 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Would it satisfy you to love me and the children 
in a ‘ high religious way ’ ? The family, Charley, is 
the citadel of true love. I don’t believe there can be 
real religious love without this germinal root. You 
love me and the children, and thus learn to pity the 
widow Briggs and her brood. Sj^mpathy and pity are 
synonyms for Christian love. Even when people re- 
vile and persecute you, you pity them for their igno- 
rant wickedness. If they knew the good fellow you 
are they would not do it. And so when Orlando Yates 
tries to undermine your prospects for the legislature, 
your love for your enemy is sorrow that he is such 
a blind fool.” 

“ I don’t know, Katy, whether I shall turn round 
and bless him who persecutes me by working for his 
nomination, even though my religious love has its 
germinal root in the family. I ’m afraid I shall con- 
clude that ’Squire Eaynor, the successful lawyer, can 
represent the district better than the white-handed 
idler, Yates.” 

^^But, Charley, let us stay with the Shakers until 
we climb into the hayrick. I wish we had not thought 
of Orlando Yates ; it brings up home and the children. 
Mr. Nickerson is really coming toward us. How 
bright Gertrude looks as she trips along leaning on 
his arm ! ” Thus resolutely did Mrs. Baynor put away 
the thought which had filled her eyes with tears. 

They are taking sweetmeats from the same dainty 
package, — real Shaker candy. They divide the de- 
lectable morsels with the Raynors, and Kate, whose 
candy-tooth suffered , fearful denials in youth, trips 
back to the glass-covered receptacle and provides 


THE HAYEICK EIDE. 


29 


herself with a satisfying bundle. The company as- 
sembling from difeerent parts of field and house of in- 
dustry approach the team. Mr. Nickerson is quite 
willing that Hugh should monopolize the goad on the 
homeward journey. He reclines on the hay, and Ger- 
trude pities his weariness. Mr. Eaynor feels like 
seeking an easy posture, but sits bolt upright in a 
low chair, thinking he shall sleep all the better for 
getting real tired. 

Why, I We just thought ! we Ve been to see the 
Shakers without seeing them shake,’' said Kate, set- 
ting all the company in a roar of laughter. 

''They do their shakin’ Sundays, Miss Eaynor. 
Gee! Haw! Be lively, now! These curious folks 
have kept ye standin’ plenty long. Should n’t wonder 
if ye 'd like a little Shaker apple-sass, or cheese, or 
arbs, or somethin’.” 

"Yes, we should, Hugh,” said Mrs. Eaynor. "Oh, 
you meant the oxen, did you? Don’t drive so fast 
down this hill, Hugh. You’ll shake us all out.” 

" Can’t get out between them hayrick posts. Had 
’em set close a-purpose ; ” and the boy pressed his 
chafing oxen to their utmost speed down the perilous 
hill. It seemed useless to fear; and so the party 
jolted, and cringed at the sharp tossings when the 
wheels struck the larger stones. 

"We did not see them shake. Let us give them 
another name,” exclaimed Mrs. Eaynor. She was 
evidently putting on a happy mood to crush back 
thoughts that tugged at her heart-strings. Charles 
knew she had not yet subdued her longings for the 
children. 


30 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

“ What shall it be, Mrs. Eaynor, — the community 
of ^ the punkin cut ’ ? ’’ 

“No, Charles. It shall not be named after the men. 
We want something expressive of the real life, the 
best side of it. Women are ahead on that hill. They 
are so by common consent, inside and out.” 

“ Then let us call them < the Club of the Women 
Ahead.’ ” 

“ I don’t like ^ Club ; ’ it suggests close halls, tobacco, 
and junketing. Call it ‘ House,’ and I ’m agreed.” 

“ ‘ House ’ suggests family life ; and there is no such 
thing among the Shakers.” 

“Use it in Hebrew fashion, to represent the de- 
scendants and line of a certain leader. Call that 
head or leader Ann Lee, and you have a name that 
means something.” 

“Hurrah for the ^ House of the Women Ahead’!” 
shouted Mr. Nickerson; and all took up the shout, 
even Hugh. 

“Women are ahead in most houses,” said Law- 
yer Eaynor ; “ and if they are sensible women, we all 
like it.” 

A smile lighted the face of Miss Ingalls, from this 
little tribute to woman. The shadows were chas- 
ing each other over the hills projected by the half- 
clouded westering sun, and there was a soft halo about 
the heads of the happy company. Even the sharp 
spiky protection of the hayrick looked gray and 
golden in the changing light, and as the hungry, team 
pressed through the valley, the windows of the white 
Stage Tavern were aflame with their warmth of wel- 
come. Waiting by the piazza steps for the passen- 


THE HAYRICK RIDE. 31 

gers to aliglit, Dr. Kossville came out to welcome his 
guests. 

How did ye like the Shakers ? I expect the 
young man from Pennsylvania never saw such folks 
before.’’ 

We never did, Doctor, and we have given them 
a new name. We did not see them dance, or shake, 
and it seemed a half cheat that we did not ; so to 
avenge ourselves we talked about the solemn old 
Elders, calling them the men of the ‘ punkin cut ; ’ 
and the whole community is to be named henceforth 
and forever ^ the House of the Women Ahead ; ’ ” 
and Mrs. Kaynor, gay as the gayest, went in to 
supper. 

The air grew suddenly chilly, and a bright wood-fire 
was lighted on the hearth of the little sitting-room. 
Most of the women gathered here, and the men who 
preferred wife or sweetheart to the tobacco-smoke and 
jokes of the office. An evening entertainment was 
improvised. Miss Ingalls played the piano, and there 
were very creditable readings by Mr. Nickerson and 
Mrs. Kaynor. Mr. Kaynor declined to read, but favored 
the company with a story. The door of the office was 
left open, and the hum of voices ceased, and all listened 
to the reading. Longfellow’s “ Building of the Ship ” 
and a side-splitting chapter from the Biglow Papers” 
held the close attention of even little Susie and baby 
Helen. Kate was delighted to see, just behind the 
hall door, listening in a hungry way, Mrs. Eossville, 
who never loitered among her guests unless she could 
in some way serve them. The music of the reader’s 
voice had lured her to drop her cares for a few min- 


32 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

utes, and drink from these nnusnal fountains. In 
the days past the guests at the Old Stage Tavern had 
been many of them rough men who drank and used 
profane language. The New Bethesda was purifying 
even the air of the house. Refined people were gath- 
ering here, and the repressed life of the hostess felt 
the widening charm, even though she was silent and 
made no sign. As the entertainment drew to a close, 
Kate hurried to the hall that she might speak with 
Mrs. Rossville, 

‘‘ Could you lend Susie the book of verses ? She is 
fond of poetry. I mean to educate my daughters, 
and my sons too if I can prevail on them to stop 
work long enough to go to school. You have not 
seen my two older boys, Ellison and Albert. They 
are away learning book-keeping and other things 
needed in the business. My children are my pride 
and joy. Have you children, Mrs. Raynor ? And 
then Kate, whose tension had been too long sustained, 
broke down, and wept before she could answer : “Yes, 
I have five, and they are seven hundred miles away ! 
I never left] them before. But oh, Mr. Raynor was so 
sick, and nothing seemed to do him any good ! Do 
you think the water will cure him ? ’’ 

“ It has cured a great many. He is getting better, 
I see.’^ 

“Yes; and he seems happy here. The hills remind 
him of the steeps on the Alleghany, about the little 
town where he found me. And men don’t worry 
about leaving children, as women do.” 

“ Are your children small ? ” 

“ Fred, the youngest, is only three, — a mere baby. 


THE HAYRICK RIDE. 


33 


AleXj our eldest, is seventeen. He is in college 
And Maud is fourteen, and will be ready to enter in 
a year more. She is very forward, — quite ahead of 
her brothers in ability to learn ; or perhaps I should 
say in application and industry. She is a thorough 
student. Then, Eichmond is nine, and Willie is 
seven.” 

You must miss them. I don't know how I could 
live separated from my home and children. I have 
always lived here or hereabouts, and everything is 
familiar.” 

I hope my husband will get well fast. I could not 
be so contented anywhere else as I am here. It is a 
beautiful place. I like good breathing-room, and we 
have it here. The wide outlook is very delightful. 
But there is Charley beckoning. He is tired. This 
has been a red-letter day, thanks to your Hugh and 
the ox-team. None of us will ever forget the Hay- 
rick Eide to the House of the Women Ahead.” 


3 


34 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER III. 


SOWING TO THE WIND, 


H ARLES, somebody came yesterday while we 



were gypsying ; see ! ” and Mrs. Raynor’s 
whisper and pantomime indicated a rosy-faced, plump 
young lady busily engaged at the breakfast-table. 

“ Yes ; somebody ought to come every day, a wagon- 
ful of somebodies, until all the sick are healed by the 
waters of the New Bethesda.” 

“That young lady did not come for the help of the 
pool, Charley. She is the very picture of health.” 

“ The rosiest apple may have a worm at the root.” 

“Very likely the place is interesting to a great many 
people. It is a picturesque place, and a good resort 
for the weary as well as the sick. I am growing as 
calm as if nerves were unknown, though the dropping 
of a pin would startle me when we came. Let us go 
to the piazza.” 

“Were you so very tired, Katy ?” 

“ Yes, Charles ; tired not so much with care and work 
as with anxiety. Your condition troubled me. I can 
speak of it now that you are getting well. But what 
ails the blond lady ? She looks as though she had 
wept her eyes out.” 

“ Some lovers’ quarrel, I presume. She ’ll be radiant 
with smiles before noon. They will confess everything 
and ask pardon, and kiss and make up.” 


SOWING TO THE WIND. 


35 


I hope they will ; but some people never do.” 

Never do, Katy ! Why, sinners like most of us 
could n’t live if we did not confess. Suppose I hurt 
your feelings in some way, and did not own up and 
ask your pardon, I should consider myself a brute un- 
worthy to be the husband of a true and conscientious 
woman. All decent men and women confess their 
faults one to the other.” 

Kosie says her husband never confesses. There, I 
ought not to have told ; but you will keep it, won’t 
you ? Poor thing ! she has been obliged to come and 
tell me and cry in my arms to keep her heart from 
breaking. Mr. Denton will get angry with her just 
because he does not understand her, and rave and 
scold, and not give her the least chance to explain ; 
and when he has these spells of rage he will never own 
that he was in fault, but just argue and overawe, and 
throw all the blame on her.” 

“ Is that what has changed Eosie so ? She used to 
be one of the most confiding and happy girls in our 
set, — just as open as the day. I shall despise Denton.” 

No, don’t despise him, Charles. But if you could 
get his confidence and tell him how we live, perhaps 
you might reform him.” 

A man that will grind the heart of a woman, and 
that womaxi his wife, is beyond or below the reach of 
influence either from example or precept.” 

See, she is going off to the woods, and I know it is 
damp yet. Nickerson is talking with those Swans as 
happy and bright as ever. It cannot be a lovers’ quar- 
rel. She must have heard bad news. I am going to 
follow her, Charley, I do pity her so ; ” and before Mr. 


36 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Raynor could remonstrate, his wife had turned away 
and was hurrying toward the pines. Just then the 
rosy-faced new arrival came to Mr. Raynor, saying, — 

“I beg pardon. Sir, I am Miss Vinton. But it is too 
damp for those ladies to walk in the woods. I am in 
the habit of coming here, and know the conditions. 
They look delicate. I would carry them rubbers if I 
were you.” 

Mr. Raynor thought the suggestion wise, and tripped 
upstairs for his wife’s rubbers. He could step rapidly 
now without short- breath or pain. He had no means 
of providing for Miss Ingalls, and did not believe 
Nickerson had the key to her room ; nevertheless, he 
spoke to him in passing. 

Miss Vinton says it is too damp for our ladies in 
the pines, and I shall be glad to carry overshoes to 
Miss Ingalls also.” 

^‘1 presume she has them. She is careful of her- 
self;” and Mr. Nickerson kept on talking with the 
Swans. There was a whole family of them, father, 
mother, and four children, the eldest a daughter of 
seventeen perhaps. They were from Boston, and 
evidently on intimate terms with the young lawyer. 

Charles called after Kate, who had slackened her pace 
somewhat as she saw how impossible it was to over- 
take Miss Ingalls. She turned, and was glad of his. 
tender oversight, for the pine carpet was water-soaked, 
and the low bushes dripping with dew. 

I would not follow her, Katy. She wants to be 
alone, or she would not have sought the woods.” 

'' I pity her, Charley. Oh, I wish there was n’t any 
trouble in the world ! ” 


SOWING TO THE WIND. 


37 


should be limp creatures if there was not. 
Trouble is like the tempest to the oak, — it toughens 
our fibre and makes us strong/’ 

I ’m afraid it makes us callous if it comes too thick 
and heavy. Gerty seems so sweet and true. There 
should never be a lovers’ quarrel with her.” 

Nickerson seems very intimate with the Swans, 
and the young lady is somewhat forward and bold, is 
she not ? I saw her lay her hand on his shoulder in 
a very familiar way, and look into his face as you say 
no girl should do who is not engaged to the man whom 
she favors with such confiding glances. If she will do 
such things in the green tree, what will she do in the 
dry ? She looks so young, with her short dresses 
and pigtail.” 

You were wise to come back, Mrs. Eaynor. You 
see I know about you. I am Miss Vinton. Susie has 
been telling me of your long journey and your husband’s 
health. You have come to the dearest spot in the 
world. It is a lovely spot. I am glad I ever found it. 
I come here every summer ; not that I need the water, 
but I come for' rest. I am a teacher, and after a year 
with my pupils I flee to this place as a bird to its 
nest. Such nice people, too, the Kossvilles. Mrs. 
Rossville is just lovely ; and the dear little girls seem 
like angels. Have you met Mr. Ellison and Mr. 
Albert ? ” 

You mean the absent sons ? No, we have not met 
them.” 

They are at home. They came in the same carriage 
with me. They are very smart young men j perfect 
business talents.” 


38 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Where have they kept themselves all the 
morning ? 

‘^They are very diffident, particularly Mr. Ellison, 
and never mingle with the guests. I see them, or 
rather they see me, for old acquaintance’ sake. Is n’t 
the Doctor an original character ? There he comes 
now. I have not spoken with him j ” and Miss Vinton 
rushed to meet Dr. Eossville. 

“Well, Sicily, you ’ve come again. Glad to see you. 
Not sick ? ” 

“ Only tired, dear Mr. Eossville ; and just longing 
to be in this charming home once more.” 

“Boys got back last night, too ; I suppose you ’ve 
seen ’em. Ellison is nearly old enough to be thinking 
of getting married, and I just wish you’d put it into 
his head this summer.” 

“ Oh, Mr. Eossville, he ’ll think of that soon enough, 
with so many lovely girls here ! What a charming 
picture Miss Ingalls is ! And that little dark girl, 
Minnie Swan, is very attractive. She has gentlemen 
swarming about her all the time. See her now paying 
such marked attention to Mr. Nickerson.” 

“ She ’d better let Nickerson alone ; he is engaged to 
Miss Ingalls. She’s pretty free. She comes around 
me and pats me on the shoulder. She seems to like 
married men and engaged ones the best.” 

“We all like the Doctor ; that is perfectly natural. 
The Spring and the Doctor are the chief attractions.” 

“The Spring is the chief attraction; never mind 
about me. You’ll see this whole hill swarming with 
people who come to let the angel put them into the 
New Bethesda. This young man from Pennsylvania 


SOWING TO THE WIND. 


3 ^ 


looks like a different being, and be ’s only been here 
the better part of a month. How long you going to 
stay, ’Squire ? ” 

all is well at home, a month more. We 
have come so far, that we must make the most of 
our opportunity.” 

You want to take the water home with you and 
drink nothing else. Tea and coffee are worse poison 
than whiskey. Let tea and coffee alone and drink 
the New Bethesda, and you ’ll live to be a hundred 
years old.” 

<^What made Miss Ingalls risk her health in the 
woods before the dew is dry; do you know, Mrs 
Eaynor ? ” asked Miss Vinton. 

I do not. She looks as though she had been 
weeping. Mr. Nickerson has been so attentive to her, 
and now he lets her go off alone, It troubles me.” 

But Minnie Swan is holding him, don’t you see ? ” 

^^What kind of a . man is he to be held by some 
other girl when he is engaged ? ” 

Mr. Nickerson was here last summer, and he was 
very circumspect. Miss Ingalls was not here, nor 
were the Swans. No one could criticise his conduct 
then.” 

‘<1 suppose his ill health weakens his judgment. 
He ought to see that it is the duty of a true and loyal 
man to shake off such a clinging tendril as Minnie 
Swan.” 

Some men like to try the girls to whom they are 
engaged, — test their love, — and he may be one of 
that sort.” 

He is not my sort of man, and I won’t speak to 


40 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

him if he does not dry the tears of Gertrude Ingalls 
pretty soon ! said Mrs. Raynor with some spirit. 

^^My wife is a terror to evil-doers, Miss Vinton. 
It would be just like her to reprove the little Swan, 
and Mckerson too.’^ 

I feel more like following the deserted girl than 
touching her persecutors, even with my tongue. There 
is Hugh with the one-horse wagon. Ret us ride with 
him.’’ 

Charles and Kate asked leave to occupy the accom- 
modating vehicle, but Miss Vinton espied some old 
acquaintance and left them. When they had reached 
the sacred pool they sat awhile under the balcony'; 
then Kate said, — 

You stay here, Charley, until I come back. I am 
going up the long path to find Miss Ingalls. Don’t 
worry about me.” 

Mr. Raynor saw that his wife’s interest was too 
true and tender to suffer defeat, and he wisely re- 
frained from further objections. Pushing into the 
shadowy woods, she tripped along somewhat appre- 
hensively, half fearing she might find Gertrude in a 
faint, or dying of convulsive grief. She could hardly 
define to herself how she came to conclude that Miss 
Ingalls was to be found anywhere within the borders 
of the long path. It was perhaps only because this 
path led through the densest and most secluded por- 
tion of the woods that she traversed its rough wind- 
ings. Had she herself been in trouble, just such 
seclusion would have answered her mood. Kate 
Raynor was one of the blessed among women. She 
knew of such trouble only through sympathy with 


SOWING TO THE WIND. 


41 


her friend and schoolmate Eosie Denton. Eosie 
sometimes hid herself among the vines about the 
Alleghanies to weep; sometimes she flew to the 
chamber of her dear pitying neighbor. 

When half-way up the mountain path Kate thought 
she heard suppressed weeping, and looking in all 
directions she at length discovered Gertrude almost 
wholly hidden in the low branches of a young beech, 
of which she had woven a chair. To go to her hiding- 
place would seem obtrusive, and for a moment Kate 
was at a loss to know how to reveal her presence. The 
refrain of an old song was upon her lips, and she let 
it warble softly as a brooding bird might, and Gertrude 
started to her feet as she heard the musical voice 
singing,— 

“ I love my love, and my love loves me.’^ 

Oh, Mrs. Eaynor, come to my nest a little while, 
will you ? 

It was a welcome she had hardly expected, and 
hastening she was soon clasped in the clinging arms 
of the beechen chair. 

What would people think of my tearful face, Mrs. 
Eaynor ? I ought not to have exposed myself by go- 
ing to the table ; but Eobert made me go. He said if 
I was silly enough to cry at nothing, the whole house 
ought to know it. He called it nothing, Mrs. Eaynor. 
Would you call it nothing if you should see Mr. 
Eaynor with his arm about some other woman, and 
her arm about him too, and talking silly flattery ? 
You donT- know Minnie Swan. She is in love with 
Mr. Kickerson, and she follows him in every possible 
way. She knows of our engagement, but what does 


42 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


she care for that! I don’t think Eobert means to do 
wrong, but she fastens on him in such bold ways he 
cannot help himself. He says he cannot, without 
being rude. Mr. Swan has confided a heavy suit to 
Eobert, and he does not wish to offend the family, 
so he lets that insufferable Minnie cling to him. He 
calls her a child ; but she is a bold and calculating 
girl, needing the guidance of a wise mother, and her 
mother, poor thing ! is of the same type with herself. 
I tell Eobert it will hurt the girl to allow her to set 
her affections upon him, and he ought to shake her 
off even if he has to be rude ; but he does not see his 
duty in that way, or if he sees it he is powerless 
in the presence of little Minnie’s languishing airs. 
He says I am weak to care, that I know he only 
allows the intimacy because he does not want to of- 
fend the family, that I am sure of his love, and he 
loves no other woman, and all that; but I object to 
seeing my lover in the arms of some other woman 
and seeming to like it. Engaged people ought to be 
as true to each other as though they were married ; 
don’t you think so Mrs. Eaynor ? ” 

“ I certainly do. Nobody can afford to risk the 
appearance of evil. If a young man pays tender at- 
tentions to others after his engagement it marks him 
as a trifler. Girls are so susceptible. They pin their 
faith on such little things. If a man is kind to 
them they are sure he is impressed by them in some 
serious way.” 

Eobert is a promising young lawyer, and if I do 
say so it is true, he is very attractive to young ladies, 
and more than one girl whom I know, admires him ; 


SOWING TO THE WIND. 


43 


but it was left for little Minnie Swan to lead all the 
others in boldness. She writes long sentimental 
letters to him. She has written him letters since he 
came here. He shows them to me and laughs in his 
sleeve, and still he is not brave enough to stop her. I 
wonder if lawyers must learn to dissemble j if it is a 
part of the profession ? 

“ H o, Miss Ingalls ; Charley is as honest as daylight. 
He will not use extravagant praise even of his chil- 
dren, and never yet has he plead an unrighteous 
cause ; and he stands at the head of his profession 
now that old lawyer Lynchburg is gone.” 

What a happy woman you must be ! Did n’t you 
have any trouble before your marriage ? ” 

“ The woman Charles Eaynor loves never has occa- 
sion to weep because of his attentions to others. He 
is kind and courteous to everybody ; but he is always 
dignified, and above suspicion.” 

I have a good mind to break the engagement with 
Kobert. I fear this trait will follow him after our 
marriage, and if it does I shall never see a happy 
day.” 

‘^Some young man will take Minnie Swan out of 
his way. I would not be rash. Keep near him, and 
thus save him from her tempting wiles. There are 
some women who fairly weave a spell over men. No, 
Gerty, save him. Do not cast him off. He needs you. 
— It must be nearly noon. Will you walk with me 
down to the pool? I left Charles waiting there. 
Your eyes are almost free from traces of tears now ; 
and the walk, and our daily caress of the tin pint, will 
make you wholly yourself.” 


44 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

The ladies go down the tangled mountain-path arm 
in arm like confiding school-girls, and Gertrude is 
pondering the advice of her friend. She thinks of 
Eobert’s easy ways, — not wilfully wrong but easily 
led, — and Mrs. Eaynor’s words, keep near him,” 
seem wise. Perhaps she did wrong in leaving him all 
the morning under Minnie’s influence j but how could 
she do otherwise and not make a spectacle of her- 
self ? 

As they near the Spring it is plain that Mr. Eaynor 
is not alone,. and Gertrude’s heart gives a happy bound 
on discovering that Mr. Nickerson is his companion. 
They have been talking too. When Eobert found 
that Mrs. Eaynor felt uneasy about Gertrude and 
had gone in search of her, he said, Women are a 
great puzzle to me. Gertrude is heart-broken if I 
pay the least attention to other girls. She is particu- 
larly hurt if I look at Minnie Swan. • Of course I 
care nothing for Minnie ; but she evidently cares for 
me, and it is not gentlemanly to be rude to a girl. 
Minnie has had a favorable opportunity to know 
me very well. Her father has intrusted a case to me 
involving a large portion of his fortune, and I natu- 
rally go to the house often to talk over affairs. The 
family are always present, and it is quite flattering to 
my vanity to see what confidence Minnie has in my 
ability. If all the others have their times of doubt, 
she never does. She is sure I shall win the case. It 
is an intricate case, and I am not so sure as I would 
like to be.” 

Excuse me, brother lawyer; you said just now, ^It 
is not gentlemanly to be rude to a girl.’ I fear the 


SOWING TO THE WIND. 


45 


profession leads us unconsciously to one-sided views. 
You say Miss Ingalls is hurt by your attentions to 
Minnie Swan. Is it gentlemanly to hurt her ? Is it 
not a species of rudeness of which a true gentleman 
should not be guilty, to cause heart-aches and tears to 
the girl whom he really loves ? You are engaged to 
Miss Ingalls, and expect her to be your wife. Are not 
her feelings the ones to be sacredly guarded ?, The 
marriage vow says, ^love, honor, cherish.’ You are 
ready to take the vow, or you would not engage your- 
self. Do you cherish the heart of Miss Ingalls when 
you pursue a course causing her pain ? I am an older 
man than you, Nickerson, and have seen more of the 
working of the human heart. A man’s first loyal 
duty is to his own ; to shield them from the world’s 
rude blasts in soul as well as in body.” 

But, Baynor, who wants to be in leading-strings ? 
A man has a degree of independence to maintain. He 
must be his own judge in such matters.” 

“If you object to the leading-strings of love you 
ought not to be engaged. There is another clause in 
the marriage vow, — ^forsaking all others.’ We are 
not quite ready for the vow if we take pleasure in the 
society of others, and will pursue that pleasure though 
it breaks the harmony between loving hearts, — a 
harmony which should never be broken.” 

“ Do you walk the straight path that you have just 
laid down ? ” 

“ Ask my- wife. There she comes, and Miss Ingalls 
is with her. Have you had a pleasant walk, Katy ? ” 

“Delightful; and I have rested in a sylvan chair 
wrought by fairies.” 


46 THE EOMAKCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Eobert Nickerson caught the mood of his friends, 
and when the ladies reached them, said, I am glad 
to see you safe ashore. I thought, when you went off 
in the dew, you might possibly drown/’ 

You do not seem to have worried about it,” said 
Gertrude. 

I have been too much absorbed to worry. But I 
did start out to find you, and brother Eaynor said his 
wife had gone, so I sat here and talked with him. 
Don’t run off so again, will you ? ” 

^^No, Eobert; I am going to stay with you, and 
keep the little brown sparrow from pecking you in 
pieces.” 


A PREMONITION. 


47 


CHAPTER lY, 


A PREMONITION. 


S Mr. Raynor improved in health he was less de- 



/A pendent on his wife, and sometimes took short 
excursions with the young men of the hotel. He had 
become very well acquainted with Ellison Rossville, 
and was pleased with the unsullied honesty of the 
youth. One day while driving over the hill with 
Ellison he reverted to the vision of the old Doctor. 

‘‘It will become a verified vision, without doubt. 
People will swarm here like bees, and you must make 
preparations to receive them. You want to build a 
new hotel right on the highest point here. Make it 
large and comfortable, provided with all modern con- 
veniences. And you want to establish a line of 
coaches between the Spring and Kingdom Station.” 

“ 1 don’t know where the money is coming from to 
build new houses,” replied young- Rossville. 

The house will pay for itself in two years. And 
then, think of the immense revenue from the Spring. 
It will be constantly increasing, too. There is no risk 
in building ^ your house would be full at once. I am 
not sure but you will be able to cover this great hill 
with hotels and cottages, and see them as full as the 
Old Country Tavern is now.” 

Ellison Rossville was not a visionary, but had the 
talents of a downright practical business man. He 
received the lawyer’s suggestions kindly and pondered 


48 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

them wisely. The arrival on that very day of another 
Boston family, rendering it necessary to go over the 
rough way twice with the little one-horse wagon, 
served to accent the talk of ^Squire Eaynor. The 
head of the family was very sick, and as he felt un- 
willing to be separated from his wife and children, 
they were all with him. 

The grown-up son and daughters were a happy ac- 
cession to the life of the Old Stage Tavern. They 
were not so overshadowed by the sickness of their 
father as to immure themselves or wear long faces, but 
were ready to make the most of this summer outing 
on their own account. It proved that one of the young 
ladies had been a year in the same school with Minnie 
Swan, and so the brother was introduced, and Minnie 
was called this way and that by the gay Stapletons, and 
had less time to pursue poor Nickerson. And, indeed, 
she had less opportunity to pour out her simple confi- 
dences, for Gertrude was with him much of the time. 
It was no uncommon thing for her, however, to come 
suddenly behind the young lawyer, even when he was 
walking arm in arm with Miss Ingalls, and whisper 
something in his ear. Such familiarity seemed the 
borderland of danger, and was thoroughly offensive to 
high-minded Mrs. Eaynor, who often observed it, and 
also to Miss Ingalls, who could not help knowing it. 
Eobert would tell her afterwards just what she said, 
and often these confidences revealed her as an unwise 
and fearless girl. 

Charles,^^ said Mrs. Eaynor, are you not glad the 
Stapleton family are here ? There they go off to the 
Shaker Village, and little Minnie Swan is with them. 


A PREMONITION. 


49 


There is material for a flirtation which will not hurt 
some woman’s heart. George is too young to be 
engaged.” 

There ’ll be a flirtation, then, — you are sure of 
that ? ” 

Minnie seems unable to keep a proper distance 
from even poor old Dr. Rossville j yes, where she 
is there will be a flirtation.” 

^^Well, we won’t care, if she stops following 
Nickerson.” 

<^She won’t stop. Did you see her this morn- 
ing ? She ran behind when Nickerson and Gerty were 
promenading, and caught his hand, and I think she 
put a written paper in it. Then she darted away. 
She is as sly as a cat.” 

Have you seen anything of Miss Vinton to-day ? ” 

^^No j but I have heard something about her. That 
pale-faced lady, Mrs. Wingate, says Dr. Kossville 
would like to have her for a daughter. In other 
words, he wants Ellison to marry her.” 

‘^She would do a capital thing. When Ellison 
takes hold of business here he will make matters move. 
He will be a rich man not far in the future; and 
women like wealth and the comforts it brings.” 

Don’t men like it too ? ” 

^^Of course they do. How about Miss Vinton? 
Does she favor the match-making ? ” 

It may all be gossip, Charles. We are not to place 
great reliance on such reports. I do not know. She 
likes the place and the family — all. Perhaps if Mr. 
Ellison should court her she might like him. But 
fancy young Mr. Kossville courting a girl ! He is as 
4 


60 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

shy' as a girl himself, and hardly speaks to ladies, 
young or old. I wish Minnie Swan would take after 
him, just to see how quickly she would be taught her 
place. He would not endure her languishing airs a 
second. It is refreshing to see a man that the world 
has not spoiled. There comes Susie.’’ 

“Please, Mrs. Eaynor,” said Susie, “-will you go 
and see my mother awhile ? She is in her room.” 

Susie’s young face looked drawn and white, as though 
some painful apprehension tugged at her little heart. 
She made her request, and hastened back faster than 
she came. Mrs. Eaynor followed, and was soon in the 
chamber of the hostess. 

“ What is it, Mrs. Eossville ? ” 

“ I hardly know. There is a strange feeling about 
my heart. I have had it before, but not so severely.” 

She was ashen white, and her heart-beats were faint 
and low. 

“No, do not call or alarm any one. If I should die, 
Mrs. Eaynor, would you be the guardian of my little 
girls ? There will be money enough to defray all ex- 
penses, but they will need some one to direct their edu- 
cation. Money is common trash, but true people are 
rare. I have watched you and your husband. You 
are different from any who come here. A hotel is not 
a good place in which to bring up children. I wish 
my daughters could have the influence of a quiet home. 
Oh if they could be near you, and grow up to be like 
you ! ” 

Mrs. Eaynor was touched to tears by the confidence 
of Mrs. Eossville, and promised to be a faithful friend 
to the little girls, and do all in her power to guide 


A PREMONITION. 


61 


them, in case they should miss the wisest and ten- 
derest hand- known on earth, — the hand of a true 
mother. 

While she leaned over the faint breath to catch its 
whispers, chafing and caressing the high forehead, 
color began to creep back to cheeks and lips, and soon 
Mrs. Kossville said, ^^It is passing off. My heart 
beats stronger.” 

^^You are working too hard, and need rest. You 
must spare yourself to enjoy this hill when your 
husband’s vision comes true.” 

I shall rally this time, but some time the attack 
will be fatal. Thank you for your promise. The 
boys can take care of themselves, but my daughters 
are yet children.” 

Mrs. Baynor lingered, performing various offices 
inspired by her womanly sympathy, until Mrs. Boss- 
ville, now apparently wholly herself, dressed, and went 
downstairs. The Shaker party was just coming in. 
Albert had driven the oxen to-day. Nickerson’s pic- 
turesque panama hat was bending over a book in close 
proximity to a neat brown straw, in the densest tangle 
of the long path, in the very chair which Gertrude’s 
hands had woven, until the shadows lengthened, and 
then they too turned homeward. 

“All coming together,” exclaimed Dr. Bossville, 
“ just like chickens to roost. Why, Sicily, did you 
go ? I should think you ’d get tired of the Shakers, 
you’ve been there so many times.” 

“ Oh, never, Dr. Bossville. Those saintly women 
charm me. I should like to stay with them a week. 
We have had a lovely time.” 


52 THE ROMANCE OP THE NEW BETHESDA. 

These folks from Pennsylvania called ^em names. 
What was it, ’Squire ? ” 

Oh, my wife spoke of their peculiar hair-dressing 
as the ^ punkin cut,’ — a speech she borrowed from her 
mother ; and we called the whole concern The House 
of the Women Ahead.” 

That is very expressive,” said Miss Vinton. It 
is charming to see woman elevated as she is by the 
Shakers. I think I shall join them when I get too 
old to teach.” 

Better get married, Sicily, before yoii get much 
older. There are others quite as good as the 
Shakers.” 

By this time all were fluttering about the piazza, 
young Stapleton marching up and down with Minnie 
Swan. Bobert and Gertrude, having had their exer- 
cise, were seated near each other, when Minnie left 
her escort and came running to where they sat. She 
had some little trinket she had purchased for her 
lawyer,” she said, and handed it to Nickerson. He 
could do no otherwise than take it, and passing it to 
Gertrude, they rose and went in to supper. 

“Miss Swan, what made you call Nickerson your 
lawyer ? ” inquired George Stapleton. 

“ Oh, he is carrying a case for papa, and he comes 
to our house to talk about it until it seems as though 
he really belonged to us.” 

“ Miss Vinton says he is engaged to Miss Ingalls.” 

“ So he is ; but he does not care anything about her. 
He had n’t seen me then.” 

“ Did he say that to you ? ” 

“ Not exactly that ; but his attentions say it.” 


A PEEMONITION. 


53 


^^^Whewl’^ said young Stapleton; and turning on 
his heel, he stalked rapidly away. 

Mrs. Kossville was seen in her accustomed places 
of service about the dining-room, and Mrs. Raynor 
wondered if even her own family knew how she had 
faced death that day. The company at the tea-table 
seemed very gay, and one would hardly have surmised 
the presence of invalids among them. 

Mr. and Mrs. Raynor lingered in the sunset light 
while reading letters and papers from home. The 
young lawyer was not a little disturbed by the move- 
ments of Orlando Yates, his political rival. Capi- 
tal was being made of the absence of the people’s 
choice, to influence the nomination of Yates. It 
was even asserted in the opposition newspaper that 
’Squire Raynor was broken in health, and would never 
be able to serve his district as political standard- 
bearer. 

“ I think we had better go home, Katy. Things are 
becoming complicated there, and I am needed.” 

''Not yet, Charley. Let us stay until the first of 
the autumn. Things are becoming complicated here, 
and I confess I want to see the tangles straightened. 
There is the Nickerson-Tngalls affair ; and the merest 
hint about Miss Vinton and young Mr. Rossville 
makes me eager for more. You told the Doctor you 
would stay a month longer.” 

"A part of that time has already passed.” 

" I know it ; and it has passed so quickly and so in- 
terestingly that I want the whole of it. We had good 
news ’from home, too, — I mean about the children and 
Grandma. Let Yates do his best. It will be all the 


54 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

greater victory when you appear, as bright and fresh 
as the autumn flowers, and strong as Samson.’’ 

The Doctor says I can take the water with me to 
ward off future danger.” 

Send a barrel on ahead, Charley. It would not 
more than get there now by the time we do.” 

^‘Fine sunset, ’Squire,” said Dr. Kossville. Do 
you have anything like this in Pennsylvania ? ” 
^^Yes; these hills remind me of the little town 
where I found my wife, only there the water is not 
lakes, but a river. You should have boats on these 
lakes, Doctor.” 

^^We shall; we shall in time. Steamers carrying 
pleasure parties and flaunting banners, and bands play- 
ing, you ’ll see when you come again.” 

You don’t think I will have to come again ? ” 

“ Not for your health. You ’re a well man now. But 
you’ll come out of gratitude. You’ll want to come.” 

How long before the era of bands and steamers ? ” 

They ’ll be here inside of ten years.” 

^^Oh, Doctor, how is Mr. Stapleton?” and Miss 
Viiiton, smiling and happy, drew near. 

^‘He is a sick man; I guess the sickest one that 
ever came here. But he ’ll get well. He ’ll walk to 
the Spring within a week.” 

I hope so. Doctor. Mrs. Stapleton seems such a 
dear, distressed lady. She is so anxious about her 
husband.” 

I told her she need n’t be, if he only follows my 
directions. I watch him pretty close, and make him 
take the water often, and as much of it as he can 
possibly hold.” 


A PEEMONITION. 


55 


Lovely sunset, Mrs. Eaynor, I have some friends 
waiting for a twilight walk ; ’’ and Miss Vinton left 
the sun-bathed piazza. 

She ’s a smart girl/’ observed Dr. Eossville. She 
keeps school in Pine Hollow, and they say she has the 
worst school in the State ; but she trains them, and 
they ’re growing as pliable as willows. I like Sicily. 
She is always smiling and pleasant, — just the woman 
to make a happy home. . My Ellison is blind as a bat, 
or he ’d see it.” 

Ellison is young yet, and his thoughts are on 
business. All these things come right in time,” said 
Mrs. Eaynor. 

Exquisite music floated through' the open windows. 
Miss Ingalls was at the piano. She sang to her accom- 
paniment, and Mr. I^ickerson joined her. Both had 
rich voices, and they had evidently been cultivated. 
Mrs. Eaynor wanted to see as well as hear them, and 
she and Charles went into the parlor. The twilight 
party was just passing down, the steps, and. Kate was. 
glad to see the little Swan going off with the Staple- 
tons. An hour of delightful music without the pres- 
ence of a single discordant note was enjoyed by the 
Eaynors and such other guests as had not joined in 
the walk. Again Mrs. Eossville was seen listening 
outside the door, while the old Doctor waited in breath- 
less interest by the open window. 'When the singers 
grew weary, Kate read Whittier’s Divine Goodness,” 
and soothed and softened in spirit by the chords of 
harmony and the poet’s inspiration, the night seemed 
to them next door to gates of Paradise. 


66 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER y. 

GALILEE TALKS. 

T T is just a week since the Stapletons came, and he 

-1 has ventured down to dinner,” said Mrs. Raynor. 

He looks very sick, Charles. What ails his eyes ? ” 

It is the effect of the disease. The brain and ner- 
vous system are drained, and the eyes become almost 
Rlind.” 

“I don’t believe the New Bethesda will cure him. 
He waited too long:” 

Dr. Rossville said he would walk to the Spring in 
a week. He does not look much like it, does he ? ” 

^‘Miss Vinton says he is going to ride down this 
afternoon.” . 

That is more than he looks able to do. How he is 
bloated ! Like one suffering from dropsy.” 

“ Oh, Charles, if you had looked like that I should 
have been in despair ! ” 

Miss Vinton, so happily adapted to the office of 
hostess, introduced the Stapletons and Raynors as they 
lingered on the piazza after dinner. 

I understand you came seven hundred miles, sir. 
You must have had great faith, or else you were not 
very sick.” 

My physician was almost hopeless of my case, Mr. 
Stapleton, though in appearance I was not so sick a 
man as you are. It took another form, — a form that 
saps the life rapidly. But I count myself a well man 


GALILEE TALKS. 


57 


now. I am almost as strong as ever, and gaining 
daily. I hope you may be equally benefited.” 

I came as a last resort, and without a particle of 
faith ; but I have to own improvement quite marked 
in a week. Now, I am beginning to hope. The moun- 
tain air and abundant table are not slight helps to 
recovery.” 

But the water is the thing that cures,” said Dr. 
Rossville, who overheard Mr. Stapleton’s remark. 
^‘You may breathe and eat to all eternity, and not 
get well on that. But the New Bethesda has miracu- 
lous power. It never fails if you follow directions. 
You must let the angel put you in, not linger round 
the edges just looking at it.” 

You don’t mean to say you want us to go bathing 
in. your miracle water.” 

^^No. I spoke metaphorical. I mean, you should 
do your part, and mind the Doctor. Don’t empty the 
water out of the window, but drink it. That is the 
way Mark Chandler did, who was here two years ago, 
and I wondering all the while why he did not get 
better. He splashed a pitcherful on my head, and I 
found out his silly trick, and I tell ye I made him 
drink after that. Never was a gladder fellow than he 
was when he saw himself getting well. He thanked 
me with tears in his eyes for pouring it down him. I 
said you’d walk to the Spring in a week. Guess I 
was a little too fast. I wouldn’t walk to-day; but 
about day after to-morrow you may, and it will do ye 
good.” 

“ I am going to ride down. What time does Hugh 
get the team ready ? ’’ 


68 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

^^The team is always ready. You just say what 
time you want to go. I would n’t go till after three 
o’clock. Give your dinner a chance to digest, and the 
water will have better effect. Some of our folks go- 
ing off to-morrow, — the Swans. He has a pretty heavy 
lawsuit coming in September, and I guess he ’s uneasy. 
I never would have trusted it to such a young man 
as Nickerson. Old men for counsel, young men for 
war.” 

“Perhaps Nickerson can fight the battle of this 
suit,” remarked ’Squire Paynor. 

“ Oh, the oxen ! the oxen ! May we have another 
ride with the oxen, Doctor ? ” exclaimed Mrs. Paynor. 

“That’s just what they are hitched up for. I told 
Albert to take ye round by the lakes. It is beauti- 
ful ; good chance for fishing, too.” 

“ Will you allow me to go. Doctor ? ” asked Mr. 
Stapleton. 

“ Yes, go. It won’t hurt ye. The diversion will do 
ye good. Nothing like keeping the mind off one’s 
pain. Drive up close, Albert, so Mr. Stapleton can 
step right off the porch into the wagon. That ’s easy. 
Here comes Sicily. She can tell ye all about scenery. 
Climb right in, ’Squire. Wouldn’t you like a cricket 
or a chair, Mrs. Pay nor ? Quite a load, — five Staple- 
tons, two Raynors, Sicily, and the Boston lovers. 
Where are the Swans ? ” 

“ Mrs. Swan has a headache, and Miss Minnie lost 
her brooch in the woods, and she and Mr. George have 
gone to find it. It is such a pity to lose the ride. But 
we will make the most of it ; and such a congenial 
party ! ” said Miss Yinton. 


galh.ee talks. 


59 


They drive down the valley road, — a direction in 
which Mrs. Kaynor had looked longingly many times 
and wished she had learned to be a better walker in 
her youth. She had decided that she would not leave 
this charming locality without a nearer view of the 
lakes, even though it did tire her all out to walk down 
there ; and now the picturesque team and the pleas- 
ant company left nothing lacking to make a delightful 
excursion. She glanced at Gertrude, and saw that all 
was well. Her prescription charmed Eobert, who was 
never so happy as in the presence of Miss Ingalls. He 
felt an inward peace quite foreign to him when Minnie 
. Swan was doing her utmost to charm. He did not 
stop to analyze his feelings and discover the reason 
of his sweet content ; but Mrs. Eaynor could have told 
him in real Bible words that Great peace have they 
who keep thy law, and nothing can offend them,” while 

the wicked are like the troubled sea.” Kate called 
things by their right names. To her, it was wicked 
for Mr. Nickerson to break Gerty’s heart by his atten- 
tions to Minnie Swan, no ’matter how ardently she 
courted them. 

Down the gentle slope into the valley of the lakes 
the patient oxen trod, while the happy company sang 
snatches of minor tunes, and sparkled with witty 
stories and repartee. Even ,Mr. Stapleton brightened 
sensibly, and added his contribution to the general fund. 
It was short, and all about the ticket agent at King- 
dom Station. 

“ Folks seem to be thickening up considerable at the 
New Bethesda,” exclaimed the agent when he saw the 
whole Stapleton family. I told a man the first of 


60 THE ROMANCE OP THE NEW BETHESDA. 

the summer they’d never see stages on them roads, 
never. I ’ll have to take that back. Kossville will 
have to send his oxen if they don ’t get a stage 
pretty quick. Could n’t take all Boston in a one-hoss 
wagon.” 

Ihe appearance of families was a progressive move- 
ment unknown before, and a prophecy also. ’Squire 
Baynor could almost see the steamers on the lakes, 
and hear the bands, as they drew near to these trans- 
parent jewels set on the bosom of the vale. Alighting, 
they all climbed to the shadow of a copse overlooking 
the upper lake, and reclining on the soft grass feasted 
their eyes upon the placid water. 

Oh, to have a heart always as calm ! ” said Miss 
Vinton. 

''Your heart is always calm, or your face tells lies,” 
responded Mrs. Bay nor. 

"Yes, my heart is calm; but I was thinking of 
others. We know of many who are like this lake 
when the mountain winds lash it. I always want to 
help such people.” 

‘ You do help them by your own composure. They 
see what is possible to all the world if people only 
lived rightly.” 

" Good diet, Kate ? ” said Mr. Baynor. 

"Lived honorably, truthfully, transparently. Did 
nothing which the dearest eyes might not look ‘upon 
with approbation ; nothing which God condemns, — 
that is what I mean, Charley.” 

"We should be perfect then, and nothing could be 
done with us but to make angels of us, Katy.” 

"We should have made angels of ourselves in that 


GALILEE TALKS. 


61 


estate, — angels of mercy to everybody who came 
near us.” 

See how prettily the lights and shadows chase 
each other across the surface of the lake ! Just like 
life, is it not, Mrs. Eaynor ? ” said Miss Vinton. 

J ust like life on a sunlit summer day ; but when 
the storms strike, the shadows are denser, the water 
is rough with the pelting of the elements, and the 
sunshine has to wait until afterward.” 

I have known only the sunlit summer day.” 

“ Nor I, through personal experience ; but I have felt 
the rush of the storm, through the sufferings of those 
I love.” 

Gertrude drew closer to Eobert, and you might have 
seen her small shapely hand stealing into his. Did 
she think Mrs. Eaynor meant her tears, and the con- 
ference in the arms of the tangled beech? 

Oh, ladies, don’t get sentimental ; you make my 
head ache,” said Mr. Stapleton, in a tone so droll they 
could see he was not too ill to indulge a humorous 
mood. 

The jolt of the ox-team made your head ache. 
Let us walk across the field to the Spring ; it is but a 
little way. If you tire we will all help you, and Mr. 
Albert can meet us there with his coach and span. 
What say you ? ” 

All said, Walk ! walk ! ” even Mr. Stapleton ; and 
Miss Vinton had the pleasure of leading the party over a 
way too little frequented to harden into a path, — a way 
where the golden-rod with its spikes of bloom stood 
sentinel, and wild asters starred the grass. Old apple- 
trees lifted their fruited boughs at intervals, and bar- 


62 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

berries and elder-bushes made an almost impenetrable 
tangle about the stone-walls. There were no silken 
robes to suffer as the ladies pushed through the assert- 
ing undergrowth. All were clad in stout calico or 
gingham, and shod in a way to defy the briers that 
crept along the sward. Mr. Stapleton declared he 
liked the tram.p ; that he had much more strength 
than he supposed; that he could have fulfilled the 
old Doctor’s prophecy and walked to the Spring as well 
as not. 

George Stapleton and Minnie Swan were waiting 
near the Spring. They had hunted everywhere, and 
the brooch had not been found. George acted as water- 
bearer, and refreshed the pedestrians from the tin 
pint. They lingered and rested under the oaks about 
the Spring, until Albert had time to make the raund- 
about way with the oxen, then all climbed into the 
wagon and rode slowly homeward. 

“ Been down to the lake and caught a Swan, I see,” 
said the Doctor. That ’s the way it will be in less 
than ten years. Birds will grow tame there just to 
make beautiful pictures for the throngs that come 
to sail and to row, and to go up and down in the 
steamer.” 

When the feat of Mr. Stapleton was told, the Doctor 
declared his prophecy had been fulfilled. 

It’s every bit as far from the lake to the New 
Bethesda, and a harder walk than it is from here.” 

I feel much better. Doctor, — much better than 
when I went to ride. The ladies came near killing the 
effect of your remedy by their sentimental talk ; but I 
stopped them when I couldn’t stand it any longer. 


GALILEE TALKS. 


63 


Miss Vinton and Mrs. Kaynor would make good preach- 
ers. Why don’t you study for the ministry, Miss Vin- 
ton ? I suppose Mrs. Eaynor’s work is marked out 
for her. She has a husband to take care of.” 

Yes, and five children, Mr. Stapleton.” 

Oh, Mr. Stapleton, I don’t believe in women minis- 
ters,” said Miss Vinton. It is such an exposed posi- 
tion for a woman ! ” 

^^How exposed, any more than going to dinner in 
a big hotel such as the Doctor expects to have pres- 
ently, or teaching school ? ” 

We all go to dinner together and sit together ; one 
is not set above the rest for all the others to criticise. 
And in teaching, you are with children and young 
people, not with adults.” 

“I fail to see your objection. I have a sister in the 
ministry, and she moves my heart more than any of 
the men ministers.” 

It is because of the sympathy between you.” 

^^It is because of her persuasive power. She 
touches deep waters, where masculine plummets sel- 
dom sound.” 

Jesus had only men among his disciples. If he 
had meant to put women in such a prominent place 
he would have set the example.” 

‘‘You mean among his apostles. Mary and Mar- 
tha and Mary Magdalene and the rest were disciples. 
That was a rough, fighting age, and the apostles had 
hard paths before them. They needed to be strong 
men; but now, when Christianity is organized and 
churches established, women can lead the flock safer 
and more gently than men.” 


64 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

If Jesus had put Martha, for instance, among the 
twelve, I should know it was right; a'nd though I 
might not seek such an exposed position, I should not 
criticise women preachers.’^ 

Jesus did a more striking thing than putting a 
woman among the twelve, and a more convincing thing 
too. Women were the first to see him after his resur- 
rection, and he sent them to tell the apostles that 
he had risen ; so you see they were ordained of Christ 
to be the first preachers of his full gospel. I take 
it there was really no gospel to preach until after the 
resurrection.” 

never thought of that before,” said Miss Vinton. 

I believe in the elevation of woman, in her education 
and equality ; that is why I like the Shakers. But a 
woman in the pulpit seems out of place.” 

^‘Because you are not accustomed to the sight. No 
other reason — ” 

“ Bather, dear, you will get tired,” said Miss Staple- 
ton; and turning to Miss Vinton she said, Father 
has a houseful of girls, and he thoroughly believes in 
woman.” 

‘‘It proves that his houseful of girls are good 
girls,” remarked Mrs. Baynor. “ I have observed that 
the men who have the highest opinion of women are 
those who have associated with noble women in the 
home.” 

Mr. Stapleton, of whom they had known nothing 
until to-day, had made a pleasant impression by his 
genial manners and exalted sentiments. They all 
watched him as his daughter led him to his room, — 
whither Mrs. Stapleton, had fied "with a headache as 


GALILEE TALKS. 


65 


soon as the party returned, wishing earnestly that he 
might be led rapidly on the road to health. 

''Dear Miss Ingalls, how silent you have been in 
the midst of the pleasures and discussions of the 
afternoon.’’ 

" I have been a happy listener, and I have learned 
something. I did not know that woman was the first 
preacher of a full gospel. The thought pleases me. 
It is such an emphatic example of Christ’s confidence 
in her. And then, Robert and I were reading this 
morning the Beatitude, ' The pure in heart see God.’ 
There may be a tribute to woman’s purity in the 
honor conferred by Christ.^’ 

"These thoughts are not new to me, but they are 
hallowing and uplifting nevertheless. We are called 
to our best life when we think what Christianity has 
done for us. No grovelling ways, no questionable 
actions, no secret life that cannot bear the effulgent 
sun of noon should ever be indulged by a Christian 
woman.” 


5 


66 THE KOMANCE OF THE HEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER YI. 

REALIZED HOPES. 

HAELES/ don’t you see how much happier Miss 



Ingalls seems since the Swans went away, — 
just as she did before they came ? She told me to-day 
she dreaded going home. The suit comes off in Sep- 
tember, and I suppose she knows that consultations 
with the father mean opportunities for Minnie to exert 
her fascinations. Gertrude will break the engagement 
if Robert shows his lack of loyalty many more times. 
She is gentle, but she is firm too, and a woman with 
high ideas of honor.” 

He would not marry the little Swan if she should 
break the engagement. Such girls as Minnie have to 
take up with second-rate men. No true and noble 
man is attracted seriously by a bold and forward girl.” 

^^Well, well! Look, Charley! If there is not Miss 
Vinton going to ride with young Mr. Rossville ! I like 
that, don’t you ? ” 

Yes, I like it if they do.” 

Of course they like it. At any rate, the old Doctor 
likes it. There he comes now. I hope he will come 
near enough for me to speak to him. Dr. Rossville, 
is Miss Vinton going to leave us ? ” 

^^No; she wanted to go to town, and Hugh and 
Albert are both off, so Ellison had to take her.” 


REALIZED HOPES. 


67 


you suppose they will talk any ?” 

''She’ll talk; and I shouldn’t wonder if Ellison 
says something, get him off alone.” 

"We shall have to leave you soon, Doctor. Only 
three days more.” 

"I shall be sorry. My wife and Susie have taken 
a great fancy to you. Hope you will come again, — 
come and see the new hotel on the bluff there. I can 
see it as plain as though it stood there now. We shall 
go about building it pretty soon. It spurred up Elli- 
son to hear the ’Sq^uire talk about it as though he 
believed. It makes a man believe to come here and 
get well, don’t it, ’Squire ? ” 

"I shall publish tidings of the Hew Bethesda far 
and near, and send all the invalids I see, to be healed. 
You must have your coach and four ready to bring 
them up from Kingdom Station. By the way, Mr. 
Hickerson and Miss Ingalls are to leave in the same 
train with us. Won’t you take us down with the 
oxen ? ” 

"It would take considerable time. The boys can 
go with the one-horse wagon and buggy a good deal 
quicker.” 

"But it would not be so picturesque,” said Mrs. 
Eaynor. " I told Charles I wished you would hitch up 
the oxen.” 

" If you want the oxen, Mrs. Raynor, you shall have 
them ; but it will take a couple of hours to go.” 

" All the better ; we shall enjoy every moment of 
the ride.” 

Dr. Rossville moved on toward the cornfield. De- 
licious sweet-corn was one of the daily viands, and the 


68 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Doctor knew how to select, the best ears. Mr. and 
Mrs. Eaynor left their hammock for one more stroll 
in the woods, fearing the sunshine might not be so 
inviting on another day. They met the Stapletons 
resting on the borders of the path as they returned 
from the walk to the Spring, which was now a daily 
venture. Mr. Stapleton looked the picture of happy 
expectation. He had improved wonderfully in health, 
and the mists of foreboding had left his face. 

“Eeally, ’Squire Eaynor, I thought the KewBethesda 
only another humbug, and came as a last resort, be- 
cause friends urged it ; and see what it has done for a 
faithless and unbelieving sinner ! I am almost well ; 
am beginning to feel attracted by the thought of busi- 
ness, and able to rush in after the old fashion.” 

“ The Doctor says everybody who comes is con- 
verted, and I think that is true. I shall have occa- 
sion to bless the miracle Spring for its healing touch. 
I wonder if Nickerson is better. He is very reticent 
about himself.” 

He is worried about his business. I know some- 
thing of the case. He T1 lose it, and righteously too. 
Swan has been cutting a big swath on money that 
belonged to his aunt. Poor, trusting old soul ! she 
thought her Silas could do no wrong, until all of a 
sudden the old lady got her eyes open, and set about 
recovering her own. She has an old lawyer and the 
right on her side. I pity Nickerson. I take it he was 
not really sick, only run down by work and worry.” 

I am sorry he is troubled. Of course his trouble 
will affect Gertrude, and she deserves to be as happy 
as the day is long,” said Mrs. Eaynor, 


REALIZED HOPES. 


69 


And so does he. Nickerson is a good fellow. He 
was unwise to risk this suit. A lawyer’s first work 
stamps him. He wants to be successful, and win the 
first case. Then his way is prosperous.” 

He wants to be sure he is undertaking a righteous 
cause, and then if he fails his conscience is not 
disturbed,” replied Mr. Eaynor. 

“Not many lawyers on that high level, I guess, 
Baynor.” 

“ All lawyers ought to be there. Charley is, every 
time,” said Mrs. Baynor. 

“ I wonder the angels let him stay in this wicked 
world.” 

“ The angels have no disposition to neutralize the 
virtues of the New Bethesda.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Baynor pursued their course after this 
little episode, and as “ all roads lead to Borne,” so on 
this rural western hill all the winding and tree-shel- 
tered paths lead to the curative pool. The walks were 
solitary. It was seldom one met a loiterer, and the 
Spring presented no pictures of happy groups chatting 
and laughing under the oaks. Alone the lawyer and 
his wife drained the tin pint once and again, and alone 
they threaded the tangles of the wildest way on their 
return. These days, which had increased the vision 
of their faith, were fast closing, and as there was 
strength for a stroll through the woods that skirted the 
farthest clearing, they determined to use the morning 
in this pleasant fashion. They had looked with long- 
ing at this unexplored forest when prudence denied 
the answer to desire. Now it seemed not only possi- 
ble, but a most alluring venture. Another picture 


70 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

could thus be added to the rich mental gallery which 
this region had photographed. Passing onward with 
short excursions from the scarcely discernible path 
into the tangled and stony forest, .the moments flew, 
as they might to happy children. Delicate mosses 
and vines of familiar aspect greeted them, and were 
lovingly gathered. The children at home would be 
glad to see that far-off Maine nursed the same beau-, 
tiful forest growths which charmed their woodland 
walks in the vicinity of French Creek and the Alle- 
ghany. No sounds disturbed the soothing silence ; 
even bird and insect life seemed to be hushed for the 
passage of this pair so attuned to the harmonies of 
the universe by their harmony with each other and 
with God that all things vocal and inanimate served 
their will and wish. 

“We must stop in Boston a day or two, Katy. We 
want to see Bunker Hill and the State House.” 

“We want to; but can we put, two more days 
between us and the children when our faces are once 
turned homewards ? ” 

“We shall be so interested in the ^Hub ’ that a day 
will be shorter than a flash of thought. I must see 
Canaan from the top of Bunker Hill.” 

“ Oh, Charles, w:hat a hunger you have for the top 
of everything ! ” 

“Yes, Katy; I believe in getting up in the world. 
I like this wooded height, but I want an observatory 
on the new hotel to answer my desire for elevation.” 

“Will it be the Legislature, and then the Senate, 
and then the Presidency, Charles ? ” 

“Oh, no; that would be going down. The truest 


REALIZED HOPES. 


71 


heights are among the common people. The honest 
man is at the top, whether he sits in the Presidential 
chair or across the pole of an ox-cart.” 

“ And we have seen some real top people here, 
have n’t we, Charles ? Ellison and his mother and 
Miss Ingalls are as true as the stars.” 

“ These rural places nurture the virtues. They draw 
life from the virgin soil, as the trees do. I wish my 
profession would let me live in the country.” 

‘‘ It will, Charley, when we can afford our span and 
coachman.” 

“ Not far enough off to get the primitive growths, 
as we do here. The vicinity of cities is soon glossed 
over by the hand of cultivation.” 

It will be a century before the woods are cut from 
Willard Hill. We can buy a lot up there, and be 
furnished with constant diversion from the legends 
about the old man. He went to the capitol years ago. 
Perhaps you will sit in his very seat, Charley. I ’m 
glad you are married, when I think of the way he got 
his wife, — that beautiful Southern girl to be cheated 
so ! ” 

How, Katy ? ” 

Have n’t you heard the story ? ” 

I do not remember. If it is a good story it will bear 
repeating even if you have some time told it. Lend to 
the prose of the story the music of your voice, please.” 

^‘He met a very accomplished young lady from the 
South while he was at the capitol. She was visiting 
friends in Harrisburg, and I suppose his wit told him 
of woman ’s love of comfort and luxury ; so he courted 
her by telling her of his large estate, his mills, and his 


72 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

negroes. She married him, and lie took her to that 
old tumble-down house on the hill. Of course she was 
disappointed. She liked him, and if he had told her 
the solemn truth he might have won her all the same, 
for he was really a very gifted man. But she could n’t 
help asking him about the mills and the negroes ; so he 
took her out to the barn and showed her two old fanning 
mills, and said those were his mills ; and then he led 
her to the edge of a fallow, and. pointing out the half- 
consumed logs which lay rotting with their blackened 
sides toward the sun, he told her those were his ‘ nig- 
gers.’ She fell into his lazy ways, and they lived a 
shiftless life. One day a man sought shelter from a 
shower in his house, and as they kept moving their 
chairs from place to place to escape the rain which 
beat down upon them, the man said, ‘ Why don’t you 
mend your roof, Mr. Willard ? ’ 

‘ You would not have me go out now and mend it, 
would you ? ’ 

but mend it when the day is fine.’ 

^Oh, then it does n’t need mending.’ 

^^That was Mr. Willard. Smart enough, but lazy. 
Don’t you think laziness a sin, Charley ? ” 

Not always. Some people are born so, and can’t 
help being lazy, any more than you can help having 
blue eyes.” 

Born so ? ” 

“Yes, Katy. That is a physiological fact, the natu- 
ral outcome of overworked mothers. Did n’t you read 
that exhaustive article in the ^New World ’ ? I pity 
lazy people. It is a weight they have to carry for 
which they are not altogether responsible.” 


REALIZED HOPES. 73 

We are lazing here in these charming woods until 
it must be nearly dinner-time.’’ 

The Kaynors walk onward toward the house. They 
have rested on mossy rocks and even on the leafy car- 
pet by the way, and the morning has been like a swiftly 
passing panorama. 

Two days of rain followed, and with preparations 
for the homeward journey and snatches of conversation 
with passing guests, the time slipped away. One long 
talk Mrs. Raynor had with Mrs. Rossville, and the 
hostess was assured that her request was not granted 
through a sudden sympathetic impulse, but because of 
real desire to fulfil faithfully the opportunities of life 
for that service which means a confession of brother- 
hood. 

It was the very last day of summer, and the ox-team 
stood waiting by the porch. Mrs. Raynor lingered for 
her word of help from the high sources ere she could 
close the small Bible which had girded her with its 
promises two months before. She had read the trav- 
ellers’ psalm, and was listening with the inner ear to 
its assurances of protection as she passed over the 
stairs. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and 
thy coming in, from this time forth and even forever 
more.” What marvellous preservation His leading 
to this mountain height had been ! Yes, the Kew Be- 
thesda had saved lovers to each other for a longer ser- 
vice in the needy ways of life. 

Charles was making his farewells with the young 
men, and giving his final word of hope. Mr. Nicker- 
son and Miss Ingalls, as bright as the sun after rain, 
stood talking with Susie and Helen. Gertrude had 


74 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

great fondness for the little girls. Kate Eaynor 
sought here and there for Mrs. Eossville, to .find that 
she understood the long talk as their word of farewell ; 
nor could she brook any other. They climbed into the 
wagon, — all but Nickerson, who said he must have the 
pleasure once more of remembering in a practical way 
the days of his childhood and youth. 

^^When we reach the rough wood-road you may be 
driver, Hugh. I would rather trust you in bad places 
than myself.’^ 

“ The coach and four, next time, ’Squire, as sure 
as sunshine after rain ” said Dr. Eossville, as they 
started for Kingdom Station. 

There was no cringing when the big wheels rolled 
over a stone, and no cries of pain. A jolly load, full of 
the sparkle of health’s delightful wine, went slowly 
onward in the morning light, down the winding way, 
glad of the invigorating air and the help of the ever- 
lasting hills, and with unutterable blessings on the 
Eossvilles and their exhaustless New Bethesda. 

There is no need to linger with the tourists after 
they reach the commonplace railway train ; no need 
to follow the Raynors as they climb to the dome of the 
Boston State House, or look out over Canaan from the 
height of Bunker Hill Monument. Their exclamations 
of delight were first cousin to those of the many thou- 
sands who have visited these historic places until the 
steps they climb are like common dust. The homeward 
journey was comfortable, and without especial incident ; 
and oh, the home-coming the most pregnant moment of 
a lifetime ! We go and come, and the going makes 
the coming delightful. Home is never so fine and fair 


REALIZED HOPES. 


75 


as after enforced absence ; and though we may have 
lived in princely places, home is lovelier than a king ’s 
palace, though it be but a mud cottage thatched with 
straw. So does the good God glorify the shrine of 
the family affections. 


76 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER YII. 


EVERY BREATH A DELIGHT. 

IVE years have gone by since Charles and Cath- 



r arine Raynor sought the healing touch of the 
New Bethesda. They have been years fraught with 
intense service and profitable experience. The work 
of the opposition was powerless when the successful 
lawyer appeared upon the scene in vigorous health, 
and the people’s choice was sent to the State capitol 
by an overwhelming popular majority. It is not quite 
certain that Charles Raynor sat in old Dan Willard’s 
seat, — there had been improvements in the capitol 
since that far-off time, — but the place he occupied 
made itself felt for invincible honor and integrity. Not 
party votes merely, but an intelligent understanding 
of the righteousness of the measure appeared in all 
the action of the new senator. 

Kate had a hard tug at the heart-strings before she 
could decide as to her own duty. The children were 
in school, and could not be removed to the schools of 
a strange locality. Alex had entered college ; and so 
near and favorable was the location in this academic 
town that he could still enjoy his home, and even sit 
down at the family dinner without incurring more 
than a boy’s needed exercise. 


EVERY BREATH A DELIGHT. 77 

It was finally decided that the wife and mother 
should divide her time between husband and children. 
Kate went on to the capitol with Charles and stayed 
until she saw him comfortably working in the new 
grooves, and was assured that his home, though a 
strange hotel, would be ample for every reasonable 
need, and then she returned to the children. It was a 
one-sided and unsatisfying life, and she felt sorry that 
the pressure of duty had divided them. He served 
the term of his first election, and no entreaties of ad- 
miring fellow-citizens could induce him to accept a 
second nomination. He missed the presence of his 
family, the bright sayings of his growing children, 
their tender influence over him, and he knew that 
the formative period of their lives required the joint 
influence of father and mother. 

And now Maud had graduated with the highest 
honors, and her brother, but a year in advance, was in 
the Law Department. The young girl had pushed 
aside every obstacle, and made her path through col- 
lege bright and beautiful, and its goal a victory. When 
a woman bears the laurel, some recognition is likely 
to be made of her triumph by those who love her. 

Mr. and Mrs. Kaynor were in conference over the 
exciting incidents of Commencement, and planning 
some way of favoring their daughter with a pleasant 
vacation after the long and severe course of study. 

Let us take her to the Kew Bethesda, Charles.’’ 

We are none of us sick now, Katy.” 

Dr. Eossville said you would return, out of grati- 
tude. It is a pleasant summer resort, and Maud would 
appreciate a visit to Kew England, and profit by it. 


78 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Slie hinted to me that she wants to go on with study. 
There are other lines which attract her. This summer 
journey will help her to see clearly and decide wisely. 
Let us go to Yankee-land, Charley.” 

‘^Has the E-ossville circular, with its enticing pic- 
tures, quite captivated you, Katy ? ” 

‘^Not that, Charles. The fact that the Spring cured 
my husband, thus preserving lovers to each other, will 
be a life-long attraction to me.” 

^^The New Bethesda House looks hospitable and in- 
viting. I am glad they built the tower. I shall want 
to look from its very pinnacle, if we go.” 

'' If we go, Charley ! Why not decide now that 
we will go. Providence permitting ? ” 

Do you want to take the whole family ? ” 

had thought only of Maud, but should be as 
happy as an angel to take all the children. You re- 
member my chief trial was the fact that seven hun- 
dred miles lay between me and my children.” 

thought your chief trial was that the handsome 
Bostonian whom you admired so greatly was not a 
model of propriety as an engaged man.” 

What do you suppose has become of Mr. Nickerson 
and Miss Ingalls ? ” 

‘'Married, probably, and as happy as they deserve 
to be, with two or three dark or blond cherubs filling 
the house with music.” 

“ I hope so j but I donT more than half believe it.” 

“We shall very likely hear from them at the New 
Bethesda.” 

“ Then you will go, Charles ? ” 

Yes f we 11 go^ and take the children. I suppose 


EVERY BREATH A DELIGHT. 


79 


Grandma would rather stay with Jane or Lucy than 
take such a journey. We will invite her, though. 
Perhaps she may favor the idea.’’ 

But Grandma said no, she would not take so long a 
journey in the cars for a sight of anything but the New 
Jerusalem, or a draught from any other water than the 
river of eternal life. 

The children, from grave Alex, a year in the Law 
School, to eight-years-old Fred, were delighted with the 
prospect of a journey to a new and unfamiliar country. 
To Maud, who had spent her vacations in short excur- 
sions among her native hills and rivers, it seemed to 
offer an occasion of unbounded opportunity. 

The plans were hardly decided, before the trunks 
' were brought down from the attic. They wanted to 
make the most of their time ; and early in July the 
family closed the doors of their ample and happy 
home, for an absence of two months in the high regions 
of New England. 

The Lake Shore and New York Central pass through 
portions of beautiful and productive country. There- 
was enough to attract young eyes to the windows, and 
cause exclamations of delight at frequent intervals. I 
And to see places which the geography had told about 
was a new thing to the Kaynor children. They en- 
joyed the Valley of the Mohawk, the Hudson, and a 
glimpse of the sea from Boston and along the Eastern 
Koad with a zest which old travellers do not feel amid 
the storied localities of the Old World. They passed 
through Portland, that picturesque and beautiful city, 
the queen city of a great State, and crept along at an 
un-American pace until the glad cry was heard at last, 


80 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

“ Kingdom Station ! To Charles and Kate it seemed 
almost like the cry of ‘‘ Kingdom of Heaven/’ so in- 
tensely were their hearts thrilled by the memories of 
restoration which came on the heights to which King- 
dom Station sits warder. 

The stage is here, and has been for several years. 
A neighbor of the Eossvilles gives his whole time to 
this department of tlie attractive enterprise. It is 
really a coach and four. There is such a clamor for 
the top of this rocking, swaying ship, that Mrs. Kay- 
nor stills her own romantic desire and takes Fred 
inside, while the rest of the family, with a degree of 
appreciation of their father’s desire for the tops of 
things, climb with him to this movable observatory. 
How their hearts thrill with delight as the driver 
cracks his whip and starts toward the beckoning hills ! 
The road has been improved, and an aching back could 
now endure the jolting. They can talk with the driver, 
and the elixir of the air and their own happy expec- 
tations make the heart bubble over. Oh the difference 
between this ride up the helpful hills and that suffer- 
ing passage of five years before ! Kow, every breath 
is delight ; then, every breath was a pain. The chil- 
dren understand the secret of their father’s happy 
mood, and are exultant even to the extreme of sing- 
ing snatches of happy songs which resound among the 
wooded hills. 

I suppose we shall have no difficulty in getting 
rooms, coming so early in the season ? ” 

^^No; but Kossville has n’t built half large enough. 
It will be full and running over before summer ends.” 

“ Two hundred does seem small. I advised him to 


EVERY BREATH A DELIGHT. 81 

build a large house, — large enough to accommodate 
the growing popularity of the place.” 

^^But even the old man’s vision couldn’t wholly 
convert the boys. They could -hardly believe that the 
New Bethesda House would ever need to be enlarged. 
But it will. They ought to enlarge another summer. 
This is the third year, and it was full as a bee-hive 
clear to the cupola last year.” 

And the Old Stage Tavern full too ? ” 

“ Yes, both of ’em crammed ; and all the neighbors 
had to take lodgers.” 

It is unprecedented prosperity, and deserved, — , 
even a hundred-fold more.” 

The children are alert at the sight of every tree or 
bird or squirrel that looks like home, and with singing, 
conversation, and laughter they make the distance over 
the sentinel hills. Presently strains of music steal 
through the trees, and as they emerge from the woods 
and see the New Bethesda on its very borders, a full 
band greets them with its enlivening chords. The 
coach halts, and a lad brings water for the passengers. 

Oh, Charley, the romantic tin pint is super- 
seded ! ” exclaims Mrs. Eaynor, as the lad hands them 
the clear water in transparent glasses. They drain 
the glasses in the midst of silent thanksgiving, and 
return them to the polished receiver; then, as the 
music of the welcome dies away, they climb the hill 
and alight on the piazzas of the New Bethesda House, 
which crowns the highest height. The young landlord, 
Ellison Bossville, comes out to greet them with the 
heartiness of a real home welcome. A bright-faced 
boy takes the hand-bags and shows them their rooms. 

6 


82 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Mr. Kaynor would like a bed in the cupola^ but his wife 
is satisfied with a less ambitious locality^ and they halt 
on the third floor. This will give the children ample 
exercise in stair-climbing. None of them are willing 
to rest until supper-time. They are too impatient to 
explore the old haunts, to wait even for a change of 
apparel. As they rush down the stairs and out into the 
open grounds, — Mr. and Mrs. Eaynor not a whit older 
in manner than their children, — they discover that a 
plank walk connects the two hotels. No more waiting 
for the dew to dry off before taking the morning walk ; 
even the mud of a rainy day is obviated by this wise 
provision. They run along this walk, and then turn 
and take in the location of the new house. It is 
altogether satisfying and delightful : nearer the pines 
even than the old one, and on the borders of the most 
romantic portions of the long path. Then they go on 
to the Old Stage Tavern. The children want to see it, 
and have the very room pointed out where their father 
drained the curative draught. 

Dr. Eossville sits on the piazza as the troop arrive. 
For a moment he is a little dazed. Charles has grown 
a full beard since he was here before, but a look into 
Kate’s face assures him. 

“’Squire Eaynor, as sure as I am alive ! I told ye 
you ’d come, out of gratitude. Going to stop at the 
New Bethesda House ? It ’s full and running over, 
just like the Spring, every year. We did not build 
large enough. We ’ve been too timid. When a man 
has a vision he ought to follow it j that ’s what I tell 
my boys. They’ll get up to my idea after a while. 
There are folks here from Chicago and St. Louis. It ’s 


EVERY BREATH A DELIGHT. 


83 


coming. There’ll be folks here from all over this 
country, and Europe too. You found your coach this 
time, ’Squire. These your children ? ” 

^^We have brought the whole family, so that my 
wife may feel easy.” 

fine family, ’Squire. You’ll have plenty of 
young companions. They come in families a good 
deal now. Come in ? ” 

I will go in and find Mrs. Eossville,” said Mrs. 
Raynor. She passed Susie on the way, and hardly 
knew her; but Susie was deceived by no signs of 
bodily growth in Mrs. Raynor. She hailed and greeted 
her with the affectionate interest awakened by the 
previous visit. She was a young lady now in stature, 
and baby Helen was following hard after her. 

Mrs. Rossville was superintending the supper. A 
glad light leaped to her face as she caught the vision 
of Mrs. Raynor, who assured her at once of her vigor- 
ous and healthy appearance. 

Yes, I have been well; one or two spells like the 
old one, that is all.” 

You milst be delighted over the prosperity attend- 
ing the miracle Spring.” 

^^Yes, I am glad, but mostly for the sake of the 
children. My girls will have no lack, and can go to 
school, and know the things that make women really 
attractive and of use in the world.” 

^^We could not sleep until we had seen the old 
place. On several accounts we should have preferred 
staying here ; but Mr. Raynor likes to be on the very 
highest places, and so he wanted to stop at the New 
Bethesda. He w^anted a room in the cupola, even 


84 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

there, but compromised by taking the third floor. We 
have our children with us, Mrs. Eossville, and I want 
Susie and Helen to know my daughter. They will 
like her, I am sure. I see it is almost supper-time, 
and we must hurry back. Come out to the piazza and 
see Mr. Kay nor and the children.’’ 

Mrs. Kossville hesitated a moment, her native timid- 
ity holding her back, but finally went to greet the 
family of her admired friend. Maud seemed to her 
just such a girl as she would like to have her daugh- 
ters know intimately. She was perfectly simple and 
natural in her manners. There were no young-lady 
airs about her, — no coquettish by-plays. Her blue 
eyes looked at you innocently as a child might look. 
She had kept her heart as pure and sweet as a lily 
through all the exactions of college life and the 
glamour of success. She had an erect and symmetrical 
figure, which fashion had never distorted ; and though 
her features were not wholly Grecian, her face wore 
such a charming light that all who knew her spoke of 
Maud Kaynor as a beautiful girl. 

Come, Charley, we shall have to break away from 
this delightful spot. I want to see the hundred 
guests about the supper-tables.” 

“ You mean you are hungry, Kate.” 

^^My eyes are hungry, certainly. I wonder if we 
shall see a familiar face.” 

It is too early in the season to meet Miss Vinton j 
she comes every year.” 

'‘The school in Pine Hollow must be out before 
this time.” 


DEBATABLE GROUND. 


85 


CHAPTER VIII. . 

DEBATABLE GROUND. 

ITH the new house, a new order had uncon- 



V V sciously crept in. Ladies appeared at the 
supper-table in full dress, and radiant with laces and 
diamonds. Calico and gingham still prevailed in the 
morning, but every lady must look her prettiest at 
evening. Even the gentlemen laid aside their busi- 
ness suits and conformed to the new order. The at- 
home atmosphere so charming five years before at the 
Old Stage Tavern seemed a little chilled by the invar 
sion of fashion. But Kate Raynor was independent, 
and she and the children made themselves comfortable. 
Not to be odd, they conformed measurably to the ex- 
pectations of the place. The most of the day they 
could pass in the woods or on the wide piazzas in 
easy apparel, and to appear in soft wools or perhaps a 
summer silk at evening was only the custom of home. 
They had greatly enjoyed the freedom from rules 
about dress or appearance which prevailed five years 
before. It made life at this delightful resort more 
restful, and Kate and Charles had said they wished it 
might continue, but could not hope for exemption 
from that rule of fashion which invades all summer 
resorts whether on mountains or by the sea. 

The Raynors found ample time for family life and the 
enjoyment of each other. There were so many guests 


86 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

that it was not easy to fall into intimacies such as 
they had enjoyed with Mr. Nickerson and Miss Ingalls. 
They were becoming acquainted more slowly because 
of this, and their interest in each other. It was a 
new thing for the busy lawyer to have days together 
with his children, and they were very welcome days. 
He had not realized how mature in thought were Alex 
and Maud, nor how well furnished for the march of 
life. Each day they spent an hour or two in reading 
aloud some book of interest and value. The young 
people just out of school were not willing to give the 
flying hours wholly to play. They added to their 
store of English literature, and kept fresh the modern 
languages by daily conversations. 

As August, the regular vacation month, approached, 
the hotel fllled up rapidly. Miss Vinton and the 
Stapletons appeared, and among the guests were sev- 
eral tired ministers of different denominations. It 
was the custom of the house to hold religious services 
when there was a minister present to conduct them, 
and all rejoiced at the announcement that Mr. Winters 
would speak on the following Sunday. Quite a little 
anticipation seemed on tiptoe at the advent of this 
gentleman. It appeared that he was a regular guest 
at the house, and had been for several summers, com- 
ing for the first time five years before, just after the 
Eaynors left. 

“He does so much to entertain the guests that 
we are very glad to have Winters here,’’ said Mr. 
Kossville. 

“He is so kind to all the lonely and helpless,” said 
Miss Vinton. 


DEBATABLE GROUND. 


87 


‘‘He carries our water-bottles and shortens the 
way by his delightful conversation,’’ said Mrs. 
Stapleton. 

“ It is such a pity he belongs to the Church of the 
Ancient Brotherhood, and he so good and charming ! ” 
returned Miss Vinton. ‘‘ I fear he will be the means 
of shipwrecking the faith of many.” 

‘‘Let us convert him,” said Mrs. Bolton. “He does 
not understand the Bible, or he never would stay with 
the Ancient Brotherhood.” 

“All the churches think they find their faith in 
the Bible,” said Mrs. Stapleton. “ I should not dare 
undertake the task of converting Mr. Winters. Some- 
times the tables are turned, and the one essaying such 
a victory is himself defeated. Mr. Stapleton’s sister 
belongs to the Church of the Ancient Brotherhood, 
and you could no more change her than you could 
turn back the sun.” 

The Eaynors overheard this talk, and were curious 
to hear this exponent of the faith of the Ancient 
Brotherhood. They knew it to be a faith everywhere 
spoken against, but were not able to tell why. 

“ What is the faith of the Ancient Brotherhood ? ” 
inquired Maud, who had a religious mind, and was 
interested in following the division lines of the differ- 
ent churches. 

“I do not know well enough to explain, my child j 
but we will all hear Mr. Winters. He seems a very 
agreeable man, and it cannot be a very bad faith.” 

“It is too good — too good to be true,” added Miss 
Vinton. 

“I don’t know what can be too good to be true,’^ 


88 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

said Maud, ^^when we are thinking of the Heavenly 
Father’s provisions.” 

“ That we are heirs to an immense fortune, Maud,” 
said Mr. Eaynor. 

God does not dispense perishable fortunes ; we 
struggle and toil for them. He gives us His love and 
His truth.” 

Don’t we have to struggle and toil for these too ? ” 

^^We toil for truth in any realm, scientific or spirit- 
ual ; but the Father loves us, or He would never have 
called us His children.” 

“ It is pleasant to think so, Maud, but we have not 
been so taught. We must cling to the true foundations.” 

We will cling to the foundations, dear father, — 
they are true. The false is but sand.” 

They listen with interest to Mr. Winters. Even 
Alex, who has not heretofore been attracted by religious 
discussions, pays marked attention, while Maud drinks 
in the gracious message like one assuaging a long thirst. 

^Ht is just what I believe, mother, and I am going 
to do more than believe it.” 

^^Who has taught you the faith of the Ancient 
Brotherhood, my daughter ? ” 

''A lovely country girl, Bessie Whitney, though she 
called it by another name. Many an hour we have sat 
under the willows by the creek while she told me of 
the faith of her beautiful mother. And she let me 
read her books too, and it was she who made sunshine 
for my soul all through the college years.” 

''Did you like Mr. Winters?” inquired Miss 
Vinton, as she passed the Baynors on the way to the 
Spring, next morning. 


DEBATABLE GEOUND. 


89 


thought it a very helpful service/^ replied 
Mr. Eaynor. 

“ Perhaps you belong to the same church.^^ 

‘^Oh, no; we have walked in the Church of' our 
fathers without question. We like its ritual and its 
calendar of holy names. There was nothing antago- 
nistic to the true faith in the sermon last evening. It 
only seemed to me a wider unfoldment.^^ 

^^Mrs. Bolton is determined to convert him. You 
will see them in the corner of the parlor, the Bible 
between them, now.’’ 

They hasten on, and Maud draws near, where she 
can listen to the arguments. Her mother follows, 
that she may know more of the sunshine that lay 
about her daughter’s college years. Mr. Eaynor finds 
his first opportunity for a confidential talk with Mr. 
Stapleton. 

“ 1 have often wished to know the result of the 
lawsuit which was weighing poor Nickerson down five 
years ago.” 

J ust as I told you ; he lost the suit. It depressed 
him terribly, and he left the city. None of his friends 
knew where he went. I suspect he has gone West 
somewhere.” 

Did he take Miss Ingalls ? ” 

^^No; she is teaching school. The Swan girl made 
trouble between them, and I think Miss Ingalls rather 
lost faith in Nickerson.” 

She ought not to have forsaken him in the midst 
of defeat.” 

I guess he went off trying to forsake himself. A 
man cannot be on very good terms with himself when 


90 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

he loses the confidence of such a woman as Miss 
Ingalls/’ 

“ Is the little Swan married ? ” 

“What was it my daughters were saying about 
Minnie ? Not married, I think, but on the eve of 
marriage. Something of the sort.” 

“Sunning yourself, ’Squire?” This was the greet- 
ing of Dr. Eossville, who walked along the piazza, 
bearing a water-bottle. 

“ Have ye noticed this bottle, ’Squire ? ” 

“ Yes, I have looked at it ; a very pretty design.” 

“ ^Pretty ’ is not exactly the word. It means some- 
thing.” 

“ What does it mean. Doctor ? ” 

“This head and face is Moses. Looks just like 
him. I ’ve had a vision, and I know. You remember 
the children of Israel wanted water, and they clamored 
so and talked about Egypt, that the old man got a 
little vexed ; and when he smote the rock, he gave it 
such an almighty clip that it struck clear through. 
That’s the origin of the New Bethesda: same water 
that flowed over there when Moses smote the rock. 
He said he did it, you remember ; but the Lord told 
him better than that. No man can bring water out 
of a rock without help. It is the Lord’s doings, and 
it is marvellous in our eyes. It was marvellous then, 
and a good deal more so now. We call the bottle 
Moses.” 

“ It does mean something, really. How much your 
visions have done to help the place ! That bottle with 
its legend will be a perpetual charm. I see a great 
many of the guests carry it to the Sprin^g.” 


DEBATABLE GROUND. 


91 


''You must have one, 'Squire, to take to Penn- 
sylvania. Allow me to make you a present;" and 
the Doctor gives the shining glass with its crystal 
contents to the man whose faith could see the hill 
covered with hotels and cottages. 

"Oh, father," said Maud, "you should have been in 
the parlor listening to Mr. Winters and Mrs. Bolton. 
She is trying to convert him. She knows the Bible all 
by heart, and so does he ; and oh, father, he makes it 
so plain that all life and hope rest on the love of God ! 
Will you listen to-morrow ? They are to talk again." 

" I should be happy to, if they are willing." 

" I did not ask ; but of course a minister is glad to 
be heard. The more listeners, the wider the dissemi- 
nation of truth." 

" Where is your mother ? " 

"She is talking with Mrs. Stapleton and Miss 
Vinton. And, father, Alex has found a companion, — 
some one who can talk with him on any abstruse 
question. Have you noticed that light-haired young 
man who keeps near Mr. Winters ? " 

" Yes ; I thought perhaps he might be a son." 

" He is a young minister, just ordained, and belongs 
to the same church with Mr. Winters. Alex says he 
is real smart, and a good talker. They have been off 
together all the morning ; " and Maud darted away 
to look after the younger children. 

The band had a fashion of playing in the office a 
half-hour before dinner, and the young people as they 
came in from their outdoor games and woodland walks 
would dance or waltz- in an informal way, keeping step 
to the tempting music. Alex Kaynor and his sister 


92 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

often joined in these dances, and they were always 
among the company who kept up the weekly hop. 
They had been taught to believe it a good amusement 
and excellent exercise when kept in check by rule and 
regulation. But to-day Maud was terribly shocked. 
Coming down the stairs from her own room, whom 
should she see among the dancers but Alex’s boasted 
companion, the young minister ? He was young, to 
be sure, and might be just as fond of dancing as Alex; 
but he was a minister, and there was a sentiment be- 
hind Miss Maud’s religious code which said ministers 
ought not to dance; they must bid farewell to the 
follies of the world, and part company with every 
questionable habit. Some one asked her to join ; but 
she went demurely in to dinner, wondering if it would 
not be well to caution Alex against close intimacy with 
a minister who had not learned that self-denial was 
one of the equipments of the profession. Then she 
began to think that perhaps this liberty was peculiar 
to the sect of the Ancient Brotherhood. She would 
know about it ; she would ask Mr. Winters the very 
first thing after dinner. She hoped her father and 
mother had not seen young Hammond dancing ; and if 
it was unusual, perhaps Mr. Winters could turn the 
current, and point the young man to the duty and 
power of example. 

Mr. Winters, I listened to you with so much inter- 
est this morning ! May I ask you a question ? ” 
''Certainly; any number of them.” 

" I noticed your friend Mr. Hammond dancing. Does 
your church approve of dancing by its ministers ? ” 

"As a church we have no rules on the conduct of 


DEBATABLE GEOUND. 


93 


our luinisters, expecting the high moralities of our 
religion to shape the habits of individual members/’ 

Of course, dancing in itself is not wrong, not im- 
moral, Mr. Winters ; but do you think the people have 
the same confidence in a minister who clings to the 
follies of the world ? ” 

There is a sentiment, I think a righteous one, that 
places the minister on a level above worldly fascina- 
tions, and it would be better for the growth of the 
Christian Church if he always conformed his life to 
the high ideals. I suppose we cannot expect the 
young men to leap into stalwart Christians at a single 
bound. We must wait for them to grow.” 

^‘Will not Mr. Hammond lose his influence as a 
minister among the young people here by joining 
them in such familiar ways ? ” 

“ Some young men argue that they but follow the 
philosophy of Saint Paul, ^ becoming all things to all 
men, that they may gain some,’ by joining in the cur- 
rent sport, and that dancing is no more harmful than 
croquet.” 

“ Would you dance, Mr. Winters ? ” 

never learned, and it has no fascinations for me ; 
while my young friend is a fine dancer, and as full of 
music as he can be. He can hardly refrain from keep- 
ing time in some manner in the presence of enliven- 
ing music. Life will sober him. It checks our im- 
pulsive gait soon enough. But, dear Miss Kay nor, the 
Church of the Ancient Brotherhood throws a man on 
his own sense of right in such matters, while some of 
the churches prohibit dancing outright, even among 
church members ; and I have seen Mr. Flint dance 


94 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

two or three times in direct violation of the rules of 
his church/’ 

Is Mr. Flint a minister ? ” 

A minister and pastor in good and regular 
standing.” 

''I danced with him myself the other day. He en- 
joyed it as much as the young people, and he looks as 
old as my father.” 

suppose he reasons that* in itself there is no 
harm in dancing. It is merely the poetry of motion; 
and here, where the perils attendant on late hours and 
cold homeward rides cannot come, it is but another 
innocent and happy pastime. I would rather see a 
minister dance than to hear him speak in an undis- 
ciplined manner. I have heard a minister speak in 
angry tones to his wife. That seems to me the un- 
pardonable sin. I think the Church of the Ancient 
Brotherhood would call to close account such an of- 
fender.” 

Oh, yes, the minister should be such a perfect man ! 
His influence is gone when the people see that he can- 
not govern his own passions and impulses. My ideal 
of the ministry is very high, Mr. Winters, and I am 
sorry Mr. Hammond dances.” 

» Moralizing, my daughter?” said ’Squire Raynor, 
who in passing heard Maud’s closing sentence. 

'' She has been talking very sensibly indeed. I ap- 
prove of her position, and wish every minister an- 
swered to her ideal.” 

_ “We must not press our bright young Protestants 
into the monk’s hood and cowl. They will not endure 
unreasonable restrictions.” 


DEBATABLE GROUND. 


95 


“ Let them pursue some other calling, father, if they 
are not ready to walk circumspectly.’’ 

“ Xhere is great latitude of opinion about dancing . 
but I think we would all agree that the minister who 
cannot govern his temper incurs the censure of the 
Church.” 


96 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER IX. 


FRED DOUGLAS. 



HE Eayuors were sitting together listening while 


± Alex read from Spenser. They were charmed 
by the quaint English, and determined to master the 
^‘Paerie Queene’^ during vacation. Looking from the 
window the ’Squire exclaimed, There is Fred Doug- 
las ! ” and in a second of time he was bounding over 
the stairs like a liberated school-boy. Before the fam- 
ily could recover from the astonishment of his sudden 
leave-taking, he was out on the plank walk, and arm in 
arm with this distinguished defender of a humiliated 


race. 


Mr. Douglas and the Pennsylvania lawyer had met 
'on other fields and in less peaceful air than that which 
stirred the pines about the New Bethesda. In the 
days of portent and omen, when there were voices in 
the very clouds, the friends of liberty were heralded 
from one to another until a close chain of confidence 
reached from the Slave States to the Lakes. Charles 
Raynor, while yet a lad, espoused the cause of liberty 
in its widest meaning, and lent the help of his agile 
frame on more than one occasion as a decoy to pursuing 
hunters.- At other -times he drove swiftly with his 
sable passenger to the next station, where the sentinel 
with his fresh horse looking toward Canada stood 


FRED DOUGLAS. 


97 


waiting. He had met Mr. Douglas later on the plat- 
form, when each knew the danger of the mob. And 
now to see the venerable man in possession of the free- 
dom which he had given the best energies of his life 
to achieve, to see him leisurely walking along the 
pleasant paths of a holiday home, quite annihilated 
the times when Spenser wrote, and the old kings and 
queens masqueraded. America walked before his 
chamber window, and to keep step with her great lib- 
erties was the overwhelming impulse of one on whom 
the war had rolled its heaviest agonies. 

There is 'Squire Eaynor in close conversation with 
a negro ! " said Mrs. Wilcox. 

“Do you happen to know the name of that ne- 
gro, madam ? " said Mr. Winters, who overheard the 
remark. 

For the most part they have no names, except as 
they pick them up, or adopt their masters' names." 

“ That man has a name which was a terror to the 
whole South in the time of slavery. That is Fred 
Douglas." 

He is a negro all the same ; and the New Bethesda 
House has no right to entertain negroes without asking 
the guests if it is agreeable." 

“ Coming to a fine point, he is not a negro. His hair 
is straight, and he is three quarters white." 

“ One who has any black blood is a negro." 

“Not according to majority rules. There is no man 
at this hotel deserving of the honor which should 
be paid to Mr. Douglas. Eaynor is honored by his 
acquaintance ; and if the guests do not receive him 
cordially they will disgrace themselves." 

7 


98 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

I know of one who will not receive him cordially, — 
that is Mr. Wilcox. We had negroes for servants too 
many years to take them as equals now.” 

Mr. Douglas is a very gifted man intellectually, 
and thoroughly educated too.” 

He has been a slave ! ” 

Yes, and he was bright enough to escape.” 

^^Here comes Mr. Wilcox. Theodore, — Theodore, 
do you think the Hew Bethesda House ought to enter- 
tain negroes ? ” 

Ordinary negroes, perhaps not.” 

Did you see ’Squire Raynor arm in arm with a 
negro just now ? ” 

^^Yes, Fanny; but that man is no ordinary boot- 
black. That is Fred Douglas. He is a great man, 
Frances. We don’t mind the color of great men.” 

“ I ’m ashamed of you, Theodore Wilcox, to lose 
your Southern principles in the face of ISTorthern 
sentiment ! Why should you cringe before Abolition 
opinion ? ” 

“ I don’t cringe, Frances. I have adopted Horthern 
sentiment. It is my sentiment. It is my sentiment ! 
It is as plain as the nose on your face, Frances, that 
every man is entitled to liberty, and I ’m glad the 
negroes have it.” 

^‘Theodore Wilcox, I wish you had told me of 
this disgraceful change ! I never would have come . 
North — never ! ” 

Mrs. Wilcox’s emphasis was still hurtling about the 
piazza posts when ’Squire Raynor and Mr. Douglas 
came up the steps. Introductions were passed. Win- 
ters, the minister of the Ancient Brotherhood, greeted 


FEED DOUGLAS. 


99 


him right heartily, and told him he had always been 
on his side ; could n’t stand anywhere else, according 
to his religion. 

Mrs. Wilcox turned away, but not too soon to hear 
her husband say, “ I am glad of the chance of seeing 
you. I ’m a Southern man, but some time ago I learned 
that God did not make the world for just the white 
race, especially America.” 

Little groups were -discussing the advent of Mr. 
Douglas. Would it be the popular thing to be on 
good terms with him ? Some said. Would it be the 
right thing? Mr. Eaynor and Mr. Douglas took a 
shady corner of the piazza, and continued the conver- 
sation which was of such vital interest to those who 
had fought in any manner, either with guns or with 
voice and pen. Old friends from the Stage Tavern 
had heard of his arrival, and drew near. Promenaders 
caught little snatches of conversation and dropped 
into the piazza chairs one after another, until there 
was quite an audience. Inimitable stories illustrated 
the conversation, and the observers were aware that 
no ordinary man held - them in rapt attention. 

It is wholly useless to try to turn the tide against 
Mr. Douglas, — I told Mrs. Wilcox so. Why, Mrs. 
Eaynor, the fact that your husband indorses him will 
be all the passport he needs,” said Miss Vinton. 

“Miss Vinton! the idea of Mr. Douglas needing 
a passport! Charles feels honored by his friend- 
ship.” 

“ That gray-haired gentleman from Cole’s • cottage^ 
— did you observe him ? His face is like that of one 
of the Greek gods ; he spoke to Mr. Douglas with the 


100 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

most radiant smile I ever saw. He couldn’t have 
• greeted a brother more cordially.” 

‘^That is Mr. Drayton. He is an 'old Abolition- 
ist, and considers Mr. Douglas a brother. He and 
Charles have had some interesting talks about those ' 
old times. Mr. Drayton would go to the stake for his 
opinions.” 

“I like substantial people. I don’t like people that 
never know what to say or do until they have seen 
what somebody who is supposed to be a leader is 
going to do. I shall speak to Mr. Douglas out of 
principle;” and Miss Vinton went on, to talk the mat- 
ter over with another group. 

Mother, was n’t it electrifying to see father bound 
out of the room, and Alex drop the book and rush 
after him as soon as he saw what he left for ? ” said 
Maud Eaynor. 

And yet Alex was too timid to join them.” 

^H’ll warrant you he heard every word, mother; 
and you saw how closely he crept to the talkers on 
the piazza. Alex has sound principles.” 

Mother, there is the queerest-looking man out in 
the woods with father ! His hair is ’most white, and 
his face is not exactly black, and they’re whittling 
canes ! ” exclaimed Fred, as he reached in breathless 
haste his mother’s room. 

''That is a great man, Fred. When you are older 
you shall read his Life. It is. as interesting as a 
story, — I mean a made-up story.” 

" May I stay out there, mother ? He ’s telling -boss 
stories, now ; ” and Fred rushed back again to listen. 
Eichmond and Willie usually divided their time be- 


FRED DOUGLAS. 


101 


tween the Spring, where they liked to. help the boy 
dip water for the guests, and the lake with its tempt- 
ing pleasure-boats. This morning they had seen the 
new arrival, and when they came to dinner aston- 
ished their mother by saying they had been sitting 
under a tree all the morning, taking turns in reading 
aloud. 

What book could keep my boys- quiet a whole 
summer morning ? ” inquired Mrs. Kaynor. 

“ You see, Mr. Douglas’s bag slipped off the coach, 
and he just found it out when he got to the Spring, and 
Rich and I ran like mad, and found it more than a 
mile back, and he just opened it and gave us a book ; 
and it is his own Life. Oh, mother, did n’t the slaves 
have a hard time ? ” 

You may follow Fred out to the woods and speak 
with Mr. Douglas. He knows your father, and will 
be glad to find that the sons of an old friend are read- 
ing his Life.” 

Richmond and Willie bounded off with the glad 
abandon of youth, and were presently listening as in- 
tently as Master Fred. 

“These are my sons,” said Mr. Raynor, when a 
pause was reached in the story. 

“These are the lads who did me a favor this 
morning,” said Mr. Douglas. 

“You are the man who did us a favor,” said Rich. 
“ We ’ve sat under a tree and read ever since. Willie 
thought it was dinner-time, so we came in, and mother 
told us we might come out here. Making that cane for 
me, father ? ” 

“ I have promised this one to Fred.” 


102 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

^^You may have mine, young man. I ’ve been 
struck with a bigger stick than that.’^ 

I hn glad you got away.” 

^^I^mglad the whole debasing institution has got 
away. I tell you it was awful on the black boys.” 

« You must speak to the people of the New Bethes- 
da House, Mr. Douglas ; it would be a memorable 
event. My sons ought to hear their father’s fellow- 
worker ; and there are many here to whom it would be 
a great boon.” 

I suppose there are Southerners here with all their 
prejudices, who might think it an invasion of their 
freedom.” 

There are Southerners here without their preju- 
dices. I was delighted with Wilcox. You will con- 
sent, will you not ? ” 

'' If the House desires it, and no trouble will come 
to Mr. Eossville, I shall be glad to speak.” 

Mr. Kaynor consulted with different guests, and 
found a strong desire to hear Mr. Douglas. As he 
moved among them from day to day gathering inter- 
ested groups about him, dropping his wise or witty say- 
ings even for the children, no one seemed to remember 
that there had ever existed prejudice against his race ; 
and when the evening of the public address arrived, 
the parlors were crowded, while hungry listeners 
gathered about the doors. The farthest corner of the 
office resounded to the appeal of the orator, and some 
who had not intended to listen found themselves 
unwittingly arrested and carried along on the wave 
of eloquence. It was a privilege which the Eaynor 
children appreciated, even to eight-years-old Fred, who 


FRED DOUGLAS. 


103 


was very proud of the fact that he bore the great 
liberator’s name. 

“ I am glad you heard Mr. Douglas, Mrs. Wilcox,” 
said Mrs. Raynor. 

Theodore made me come down. He was just as 
determined as a regular tyrant. He said it was time 
I knew something about the Northern side.” 

“ You are not sorry ? ” 

“ Yes, I am. I don’t like to be stirred up so.” 

There were suspicious traces of tears about Mrs. 
Wilcox’s eyes, and it was evident that her heart had 
softened not a little under the sway of the pathetic 
truth. 

It is the religion of the Ancient Brotherhood in 
practice, friend Raynor,” said Mr. Winters, as the 
company dispersed for a breath of the open air. 

« Quite an ovation to Mr. Douglas, and I am so 
delighted,” said Miss Yinton. 

Oh, mother, it made me cry. Will there ever be 
any more slaves ? ” said Willie Raynor. 

Demosthenes himself ! ” observed Alex. 

Demosthenes’ oratory ; Saint Chrysostom’s pathos, 
dear brother,” said Maud. 

“ And more and greater than any ancient hero or 
saint, — the experience of a man who lived through the 
most pregnant times of all the ages,” observed Mr. 
Raynor. 

And a man who bears scars in defence of liberty. 
Oh, my children, learn what a priceless boon this is 
which we call freedom, and defend it with voice and 
life ! ” said the mother, with emotion. She remem- 
bered her war-graves then. 


104 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

The family walked to the Spring. Others loitered 
there in the moonlight discussing the address of Mr. 
Douglas. He had made a profound impression ; and 
when he passed among them afterward there was a 
hush, as though an old prophet had appeared to the 
guests of the Hew Bethesda. 


105 


“LEND A HAND.” 


CHAPTER X. 

“LEND A HAND.” 

I T is coming true every day ’Squire, — the vision. 

Have you seen Colonel Raynes, from Xew Orleans ? 
That ’s the farthest yet ; but they ’ll come farther than 
the width of this whole country to be healed by the 
Kew Bethesda. He ’s a fine man too, though he was a 
rebel colonel. But, ’Squire, I want you to talk with 
him. He is sick, — pretty bad, — and he don’t drink 
enough of the water j acts just as you did. I told 
him about you; but you see I can’t look after him 
at the Xew Bethesda House as I could if he was 
down to the Old Stage Tavern. Xow, if you could 
tell him what the water did for you it might have 
more influence. I suppose he thinks I am enthusi- 
. astic because it is my Spring ; but let him hear some- 
body .talk who came here given up by the doctors, and 
he will begin to see that I ’m not enthusiastic for 
nothing.” 

“ Are most of the people here out of health. Hr. 
Rossville ? ” 

“ There ’s hardly a sound one except the children, and 
the folks that have been cured and come out of grati- 
tude. There ’s Winters, that Ellison thinks so much 
of ; he ’d ’a’ been in his grave if he had n’t come here 


106 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

five years ago. He comes out of gratitude almost 
every year now, and Ellison says lie ’s a great help in 
entertaining the new arrivals. He tells them what 
the water did for him, and being a minister they 
believe him.’’ 

^^He seems to be talking religion as well as the 
New Bethesda. Mrs. Bolton has undertaken to con- 
vert him, and they sit with the Bible between them 
an hour or two every day, arguing.” 

She ’d better not. She belongs to the same church 
that I do, and I should n’t dare try to bring Winters 
into my way of thinking. I know just how it would 
strike him. He ’d think it was cutting up stars to 
make lightning-bugs.” 

How do you suppose they will come out ? ” 
heard Winters say that nobody ever yet studied 
into the faith of the Ancient Brotherhood without 
believing it. If that ’s so, it is plain how they ’ll 
come out.” 

‘^Did you know the New Bethesda House had to 
put up cots last night ? It is full and running over.” 

So are we ; and the neighbors are getting chamber- 
sets for all their rooms, upstairs and down, and tak- 
ing lodgers.” 

There are some fine people here.” 

“ Yes ; the folks that come here come for something 
else besides just having a good time ; they come out 
of principle. The best part of it is, if they come 
once they want to come again; in fact, they don’t 
want to go anywhere else. Try to get hold of Colonel 
Baynes to-day, ’Squire. He ’s losing time.” And Dr. . 
Bossville hurried on to encourage some despondent 


“LEND A HAND.” 107 

soul to hope for longer life on earth through the help 
of the New Bethesda. ’Squire Eaynor hailed a Penn- 
sylvanian who had made the journey from the Quaker 
City because of his testimonial to the helpful influence 
of the Spring, — 

“ How are the tides of life to-day, Mr. Parwell ? ” 

“ Kising. I feel like another man. When I came 
here I was weak as a baby. I don’t mean physically, 
though I was weak enough in body ; but I was low- 
spirited, despondent, and it is true, though I ought to 
be ashamed to say it, I cried half the time : could not 
help it. Everything was dark to me. You never did 
a better service to humanity, not even when you be- 
longed to the underground railroad, than in telling 
the world of the healing properties of the New Be- 
thesda. It does heal almost miraculously.” 

“You have been willing to give it a fair trial. 
There is a man from New Orleans, Colonel Eaynes, — 
have you met him ? — who came to be cured, and will 
not avail himself of the opportunity he came so many 
miles to enjoy.” 

“ I take thirty glasses daily.” 

“ He does not take a whole glass at a time ; thinks 
he cannot, though he is a large man. ^ As a man think- 
eth, so is he.’ How true that is ! If we can make the 
Colonel think his way to even ten glasses daily, he 
will improve at once.” 

“Do you suppose there is any danger of exhausting 
the Spring ? ” 

“ It seems to be a living spring, overflowing at the 
rate of three hundred barrels daily, with all the ex- 
haustion of two hundred and fifty guests.” 


108 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


^'You ought to see my wife. Her face is actually 
two inches shorter than when we started from Phila- 
delphia. It beats all how a woman can worship her 
husband ! ” 

I fear we are not half tender enough of this un- 
selfish devotion. I reproach myself daily for little 
failures. Perhaps I have not been so polite to my 
wife as I would have been to Mrs. Stapleton or Miss 
Vinton, though I mean to be. 1 know if you set 
your boot, with nails in the heels, on the heart of a 
rose or a pansy, it may exhale fragrance, but it is 
the fragrance of a crushed flower, the aroma of a 
wound.’^ 

'' They are powerful creatures for pardoning. Just 
tell them you 're sorry, and they are as happy as night- 
ingales once more, no matter how deep the ugly nails 
have pierced." 

^^Yes; and for that very reason we ought to beware 
of the hurts. Every wound leaves a scar, however 
carefully healed." 

''The tramp has begun. I should think the planks 
would be worn as thin as shingles. Three times a day, 
up and down, up and down." 

" The conference has broken up, I see. ' There comes 
Winters with Mrs. Bolton, and my wife and Maud are 
following." 

" What conference ? " 

"Mrs. Bolton is trying to convert Mr. Winters, and 
my wife and daughter are so interested that they listen 
to every word, and I believe even Alex hangs around 
the outer rim, not too far off to hear." 

" That accounts for your being alone, — the man who 


“LEND A HAND.” . 109 

has the most delightful family on the face of the 
earth. Why don’t you listen, too ? ” 

“ The fact is, Farwell, I find I do not need to listen. 
My humanitarian ideas logically followed are the 
faith of the Ancient Brotherhood. And so while 
they stay in the stived parlor or on a corner of the 
piazza, I can breathe the mountain air in motion, and 
maybe convert some faithless soul to the virtues of the 
miracle pool.” 

Mrs. Eaynor and Maud took each an arm of the 
’Squire and faced him toward the Spring. He and 
Mr. Farwell had lingered half-way up the hill on a 
convenient bench while they dropped their pearls of 
truth and good fellowship and reckoned their occa- 
sions of hope. 

“ Oh, father, you should have heard the talk this 
morning ! It was like a vine-covered way leading into 
the everlasting light and joy of heaven. Mrs. Bolton 
said they would not talk any more ; she would think 
about it. I don’t see how she can help being con- 
verted.” 

Maud’s face was alight with the glow of a happy 
hope. She rejoiced, not so much that her school 
friend’s sweet philosophy had found able corroboration, 
as that her mother should willingly listen and at last 
heartily approve. 

“ If father could only see the same head-lights ! ” 
exclaimed Maud. 

’Squire Eaynor quoted Tennyson : — 

Oh yet we trust that somehow good 
Shall be the final goal of ill, 

To pangs of nature, sins of will. 

Defects of doubt, and taints of blood.’^ 


110 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Do you believe that, dear father ? ’’ 

How could a reasoning man believe anything else, 
and live his life in this changeful world ? 

^^And you have not read on the question, Charles, 
nor listened to the arguments ? ’’ said Mrs. Eaynor. 

^‘1 have read my own heart, Katy, — the heart of a 
father.’^ 

'' Glory ! glory ! hallelujah ! said Maud. 

“ Let us go back by the long path. Winters is able, 
is he not 

^ ''And so persuasive. He seems sweetness itself iu 
disposition ; or is it the grace of the Lord ? 

" Did many listen ? ’’ 

"Yes, a good many, father. Alex listened, and he 
is talking on the question with young Mr. Hammond. 
It will soften the hearts of the people here, and make 
the atmosphere of the Hew Bethesda House like that 
of a great home.” 

" There is a new minister here, — came yesterday. 
He is as young as Mr. Hammond, and with the same 
light hair and blue eyes.” 

"And the same faith, Maud ? ” 

"I make no doubt it is the same at the root, though 
its branches may hang out different colors.” 

"Was that a blast?” 

" Thunder, Katy. I observed the gathering storm 
some time ago.” 

“ We had better give up the long path to-day, and 
avoid a drenching.” 

They turned into a shorter way still bordered by over- 
hanging trees, and in some places arched by them, and 
with quickened steps gained the shelter of home in 


“LEND A HAND. 


Ill 




time ■ to avoid a pelting shower. Strains of music 
greeted them, and they hastened to the parlor to listen. 
A young man with refined and scholarly face was at 
the piano, singing. The tones were wondrous sweet, 
and the song a new one to the Eaynors. When the 
last notes died away, Maud whispered, “This is the 
young minister who came yesterday.” 

The rainy day was improved by the musicians and 
authors of the company. While song after song 
reverberated through the halls, here and there in a 
window-nook busy pens were flying in preparation of 
promised copy for the city newspapers, each follow- 
ing his specialty with perfect unconsciousness of the 
other, while some of the young men were mysteri- 
ously consulting with reference to future enjoyment. 

The religious tone of Mr. Marshall’s contributions 
to this rainy-day entertainment awakened a desire to 
hear the young man in his official capacity, and at once 
he was invited and urged to conduct the service on 
the following Sunday. 

“ Father, Alex and Mr. Hammond are getting up an 
entertainment. There is a poor sick girl here, and 
the object is to help her, — that is, the ulterior object. 
Of course young men will be pardoned if they antici- 
pate a good time. Will you help ? Mr. Winters is 
going to take part, and Miss Vinton, and the Staple- 
tons; and have you noticed those young ladies who 
seem to keep by themselves, and one of them is pale 
and sick ? They are daughters of a noted authoress. 
They will assist, and together we hope to arrange 
for quite a brilliant time. Mother will read in her 


112 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

inimitable way, will you not, dear mother ? '' And 
Maud goes to find -Eichmond and Willie, whom the 
rain has driven into the house, as two or three lads 
are needed to complete the cast for a domestic drama. 
Then what earnest study goes on in quiet corners or 
the more secluded chamber, the pale face of the sick 
girl pleading for devotion and faithfulness, and stimu- 
lating the brave young hearts in their noble under- 
taking. The rainy day is a very godsend. The 
house never seemed so much a home as now, when 
a mutual work is going on for a humanitarian end. 
The weather was forbidding for two or three days, ~ a 
cold August storm ; but the New Bethesda House was 
like a hive of busy workers. Those who were to have 
parts were intently studying, while the benevolent- 
hearted lent their assistance by planning and making 
costumes, and interesting every guest in the object of 
the entertainment. There was to be an admission fee, 
and a contribution also. Mr. Marshall and Mr. Ham- 
mond were ready to assist in the music, and all were 
alive with expectancy. 

Mr. Eaynor found his opportunity to talk with the 
New Orleans colonel. He told his own story, and that 
of others who had come under his observation; but 
Colonel Eaynes seemed immovable in the conviction 
that he could not imbibe a spoonful more than at the 
present. 

I fear you will not recover if unwilling to follow 
the Doctor. The prescription measures quantity as 
well as ingredients.’’ 

I cannot drink water by the quart, for the sake of 
getting well; and death is an angel of mercy. You 


“ LEND A HAND.” 113 

Yankees have so changed our social order that we feel 
ourselves in a land of strangers. There is no escape 
except in death.” 

“ You are a sick man, Colonel, or these shadows 
would not hover about you. The social order of the 
South is indeed changed ; but how much purer and 
nobler it is possible to make it in an atmosphere of 
universal liberty ! ” 

Some of us do not feel like exerting ourselves to 
create a new order. It is not easy to fit four millions 
of blacks into the grooves of freedom.” 

‘^All the greater honor to him who takes up the 
hard task.” 

I do not court the honor, and I shrink from the 
responsibility. Your Korthern papers and authors are 
continually pointing the finger of condemnation at us. 
I have just read Fool's Errand.’ It is utterly 
false. There is no such bloodthirsty spirit among us. 
The Ku-Klux-Klan is a law-and-order league.” 

^^Is it not possible that this law-and-order league 
has degenerated in certain localities, so that ^A Fool’s 
Errand ’ easily finds its facts ? ” 

^^Southerners are a high-minded and noble class. 
They are neither midnight assassins nor spies.” 

I believe you. Colonel, with reference to the typical 
Southerner ; but a great war stirs up the degenerate 
blood of communities. We were not free from villains 
at the Korth. But, Colonel, get well, and see the de- 
lightful change in operation a few years hence; then 
you will rejoice, as I do, that it has come. See, 
the clouds are broken around the western horizon; 
what magnificent colors the setting sun lavishes upon 
8 


114 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

them ! How easy to see ships in full sail over crimson 
and amber seas, and volcanic islands sending up their 
smoke and flame! The sunset from this height is 
magniflcent, and never so glorious as after a storm. 
Is there not a hopeful hint to North and South in this 
natural picture with its unvarying philosophy? I 
wish I could inspire you with my hope for the future 
of our united Eepuhlic. You would desire to live and 
be one of the happy recipients of its blessings, if not 
a formative force in creating them.^' 


EXPECTATION. 


115 


CHAPTER XI. 

EXPECTATION. 

# 

T he guests of the Old Stage Tavern and all the 
cottages rallied to the Xew Bethesda House on 
the night of the entertainment. Busy hands had 
cleared the dining-room and erected the stage, and 
by close packing nearly all were accommodated with 
seats. Lily Tarleton, the sick girl for whose benefit 
so many happy thoughts and industrious hours had 
been given, was persuaded to be present, comfortably 
ensconced in a rocking-chair. The utmost care had 
been taken to conceal from her the object of the 
entrance-fee and contribution ; but her shyness about 
being present made the managers almost afraid that 
some bird of passage had told the story. Maud Raynor 
had to use not a little of her sweet eloquence before 
Lily would allow them to draw her into the hall. 
The stage looked quite theatrical, with its improvised 
scenery, and in watching the, players Lily’s thought 
was taken from her own weakness. A simple domes- 
tic drama, calculated to set in relief the honest 
home affections and exalt the life of the family, held 
the attention as few great plays have done. The 
guests felt themselves individually responsible for the 
success of the occasion. Much of the acting was so 
natural, it hardly seemed the work of amateurs. Alex 


116 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Raynor excelled in stately elocution, Mr. Hammond 
in humor, Maud in pathos, and Miss Vinton in tragic 
tones. The sick daughter of the noted authoress 
invested her part with sympathetic enthusiasm, Lily 
Tarleton was but a degree weaker than herself, and to 
pour the warmth of her own flickering life on the altar 
of benevolence was an opportunity enlisting her deep- 
est heart. The fellowship of pain was an unseen but 
real union between them. 

The Raynor lads made the child-life of the home 
very attractive, while their youthful voices held the 
close attention and interest of young and old. Maud 
had improved the juvenile asides by improvisations of 
her own, which were received with delight. 

The drama closed by a tableau of happy domestic 
life. — the family about the evening fireside engaged 
in their various occupations of work and study ; the 
grandmother reading the Bible, a peaceful light upon 
her aged face as she looked from the open book to the 
living epistles about her. 

After the drama, came what to many was the cream 
of the entertainment, — readings by some of the chief 
elocutionists of the company. Mrs. Raynor appeared 
in the costume of Queen Elizabeth’s time, and called 
the cattle home across the sands o’ Dee.” Mr, 
Winters read from Snow-Bound,” giving the picture 
of home comfort in the midst of a rigorous New Eng- 
land winter, when — 

“ The well-curb had a Chinese roof ; 

And even the long sweep, high aloof. 

In its slant splendor seemed to tell 
Of Pisa’s leaning miracle.” 


EXPECTATION. 


117 


Esquire Kaynor read ^-The Eireside,” Mr. Marshall 
sang the “Old Oaken Bucket,” and the pleasant 
evening came to a close. The sentiments had been 
uplifting and in harmonious keeping, and the in- 
fluence was helpful to all. 

When account was taken of the receipts, seventy 
dollars were in the hands of the treasurer. As Lily 
Tarleton was borne back to her room, Maud Eaynor 
lingered for little helpful ministries; and when she 
said good-night she left a package in the hand of the 
poor girl which would enable her to stay the needed 
time at the New Bethesda House without fear of im- 
poverishing her widowed mother, or taking the bread 
from the mouths of the younger children. 

“ Mother,” said Maud, “ Mr. Hammond says he has 
been on the stage a good many times. When he was 
younger he was carried away by the fascinations of the 
theatre.” 

“ And he compromised by entering the ministry ? ” 

“ He was converted flrst. He has told Alex and me 
about it. He had a beautiful sister who suddenly 
sickened and died, and the minister at the funeral 
said she was lost. Think of it, mother, — a young girl 
who had never done anything wrong, lost ! Mr. Ham- 
mond was very young then, only seventeen ; but he 
made up his mind then and there that he would be a 
minister for the sake of following in the footsteps of 
Jesus, who commissions his ministers to ^comfort all 
that mourn.’ He did not know anything about the 
Church of the Ancient Brotherhood. He knew that 
the heart that is bereft of a dearly-loved one has all 
the anguish it can endure, and that there is but one 


118 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

office for those who would approach such a heart, and 
that is the office of comforter. There was a new col- 
lege quite near his home, and it was built and en- 
dowed by this church of which Mr. Winters and Mr. 
Hammond are ministers ; and when he went there he 
learned that a great denomination believes that the 
minister commits the unpardonable sin who fails to 
comfort all who mourn.^’ 

''Have you ever talked with Mr. Hammond about 
the influence of example ? 

"In a general way, mother. But when Alex and I 
like to dance, afid we are all young together, I cannot 
speak of that with very good grace ; but I wish you 
would. If he should dance at parish parties I know it 
would make trouble for him. And he will, he likes 
dancing so well.” 

" He enters into all the pastimes with a good deal 
of interest, I notice. He started that blindfold game 
.the other evening, which ofEended Miss Vinton so 
seriously.” 

"It was all meant in good part, mother. Miss Vin- 
ton was very sensitive, where you would not have 
noticed or cared.” 

"There are always sensitive people in gatherings 
of any kind, and the pastimes should be above any 
danger of even a suspicion of personalities.” 

“ They are talking about something for to-morrow 
night which will be astonishing if it can be done 
Mr. Hammond says it can. But I must not tell. 
Are you tired, mother dear ? ” 

" A little anxious, that is all.” 

"Hot about me, I hope ? ” 


EXPECTATION. 


119 


^^Mr. Hammond is very attractive, and you know 
very little about him, Maud. Be reserved and 
careful.” 

He tells everything about himself to Alex and me. 
He seems to want us to know his past history. Alex 
is charmed with him.” 

“ I am not wholly pleased with his familiar ways. 
I have observed him closely when you and Alex have 
been with him.” 

He seems very childlike and confiding. One can- 
not hold such a person at arm’s-length. .He is more 
like a girl in his manners than like a mature man and 
minister. I have seen him more frequently since we 
began to get ready for the play, and it seems as though 
we had always known each other.” 

Susie and Helen will need you now. You have 
withdrawn yourself from them for several days on 
account of the play. Bun down and read with them 
occasionally, and let Mr. Hammond drift a little 
farther away.” 

Mother, dear, I hope you don’t think ray heart 
in danger ! You mistake your little girl, if you do. 
I have a nebulous career before me, and it is slowly 
assuming definite form. Love and marriage are not 
in the near future to me. If they come at all, it must 
be at a later period.” 

I wanted to put you on your guard in the presence 
of a man who seems very sweet and gentle, ju^st 
such a man as women love and trust, and yet not 
always wisely.” 

I presume Mr. Hammond has a sweetheart. W^e 
used to have a proverb at college that the ‘ Divini- 


120 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

ties mated before they matriculated/ Almost every 
one of them gets engaged before be is out of col- 
lege.” 

For that very reason girls should be on their 
guard. The profession brings the minister into more 
intimate relations with families than any other, and 
his sympathetic and ofiBlcial attentions may be mis- 
interpreted.” 

We played the domestic play, dear, precious, dis- 
creet mother, and that ’s the end of it.” 

Mrs. Eaynor held an unopened letter in her hand 
while she talked with her daughter. Maud observed it. 

'' Who is it from ? Why don’t you read it ? How 
can you wait, even to counsel me ? ” 

Mrs. Eaynor, still with the anxious look upon her 
face, put the letter in her pocket, remarking that she 
would sleep before reading it. The evening had been 
exciting and wearisome j the postmark on the letter 
made her apprehensive. She thought she recognized 
the chirography. 

^ Can you sleep with an unopened letter in your 
possession ? ” 

I always wait the opportune moment before read- 
ing what may bring me unrest or pain.” 

‘‘ The children acquitted themselves very well 
remarked Esquire Eaynor, when his wife closed the 
door of their room; ^^and young Hammond is really 
quite an actor. It was very creditable, very creditable 
indeed.” 

^^Yes, and the delightful part is the greenbacks 
which the entertainment puts into the hands of sick 
Eily. Eet us not talk. I am a trifle weary.” 


EXPECTATION. 


121 


With the morning light Mrs. Eaynor opened and 
read her letter. It was, as she had apprehended, from 
Gertrude Ingalls, who had heard through the Staple- 
tons that the Raynors were again at the New Be- 
thesda. She had taken no vacation except the rest in 
her own home, and was meditating a few days at the 
Spring, tempted to undertake the journey by the hope 
of seeing a sympathetic friend. .Mrs. Raynor de- 
sired and yet dreaded to see her acquaintance of one 
summer. It would be a living tragedy to see the 
laughing light on Gertrude Ingalls’s face veiled in 
shadow. 

Shall we ask her to share our daughter’s room, 
Charles ? Mr. Rossville said last night that every 
available space was full.” 

^^Yes, if Maud is willing. When does she come?” 

^^The 20th. Why, that is to-day ! There will be a 
crowd over Sunday, no matter how many departures 
there are. I will ask Maud ; ” and Mrs. Raynor goes 
to her daughter’s room. 

“Yes, mother dear, I should be delighted to have 
Miss Ingalls share my room. I was on the point last 
evening of dividing it with Lily Tarleton. A second 
thought made me fear you would object on account 
of possible danger from associating with one who is 
ill.” 

“I have that little anxiety settled now, and will 
run to the Spring before breakfast, as I am ready, and 
my family still resting off the excitement of the play.” 

“ Alone, mother dear ? ” 

“Yes; this morning I shall not object to being 
alone.” 


122 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


Mrs. Kaynor’s thoughts were on her friend, whom, 
from her happy security as wife and mother, she 
looked upon as defrauded and bereft. She recalled 
Tennyson’s couplet, — 

“ ’T is better to have loved and lost, 

Than never to have loved at all.'* 

and wondered if the philosophy would apply to a loss 
which comes from the intrigue of a heartless girl and 
the disloyalty of an avowed lover, or if it meant only 
the loss which is marked by growing grass and blos- 
soming daisies. Of course the heart is enlarged by an 
honorable love j but is it not also shrivelled by disap- 
pointment, — its living currents thrown back to chill 
and to drown? And then to know the degree to 
which human weakness can descend as it is exhibited 
by a fickle lover ; is there any enlarging power result- 
ing from a love thus rewarded ? She came to the con- 
clusion that only the true love over which no shadows 
of estrangement or disloyalty gather — the faithful 
love lost by death — could have inspired the laureate’s 
couplet. Anything less is apples of Sodom, — dust, 
ashes, shame. 

At the Spring she found Colonel Eaynes sipping 
slowly his half-glass, while she dipped and drank her 
two. She took occasion to add her emphasis to her 
husband’s effort on behalf of this splendid Southerner. 

^‘We want you to live. Colonel, and see how glorious 
a truly free Eepublic is. Please take larger draughts 
from the miracle pool. It will restore you : it never 
fails. While there is life, there is a chance for this 
fountain to save.” 

But the Colonel only sighed, and said, If life and 


EXPECTATION. 


123 


healing depend on impossibilities, I shall have to go 
down. It is literally impossible, madam.” 

Mrs. Kaynor pressed the matter, telling him there 
should be no such word as ^‘impossible” in the vo- 
cabulary of a soldier ; that where there is a will there 
is a way. 

“Not always, madam. We started out feeling our- 
selves equal to the undertaking of conquering the 
North; but you 'Yankees made us own the word ‘im- 
possible.^ There was a will to be independent, but 
you blocked the way.” 

It was useless. The Colonel was evidently a disap- 
pointed man, whose sickness had resulted from brood- 
ing over the war and the changed order it had caused ; 
and where the mind is sick the body has poor chance 
to be whole. J oy is the best nerve tonic ; a happy 
heart the best medicine. If the loving pulses of the 
heart beat sadly, the whole world is out of joint. How 
do men dare attempt to contravene the Divine decrees, 
and expect even a passing pleasure from the defiant 
step ? 


124 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER XII. 

THE BEAUTIFUL TEACHER. 

G ertrude IXGALLS came in the afternoon 
coach. It seemed strange to see her coming un- 
attended, when memory took in the first vision of her 
lovely face. Mrs. Raynor hastened to join her, that no 
sense of loneliness might oppress her spirits in this unfa- 
miliar place. She was escorted to Maud’s room, glad to 
find evidence that some one had cared for her comfort. 
Mrs. Raynor observed her face, fearful of possible 
changes. Five years of school-teaching write their 
lines even when there are no sorrowful heart-pangs 
adding their weight to the daily care. Miss Ingalls was 
indeed changed. The care-free face of the young girl 
which so charmed Mrs. Raynor at the breakfast-table 
five years before was more serious and thoughtful. 
The flitting sunbeams which then played over her 
cheeks and among the masses of her yellow hair had 
gathered into a steady, softened light. Hers was not 
a sad face, and yet the reader of expression would 
know that sorrow’s shadowy hand had helped in 
moulding its serenity. There was no look of one at 
odds with the world, or meditating upon past injuries. 
Miss Ingalls had overcome even her regrets, and 
through faith and work reached victory. This was the 


THE BEAUTIFUL TEACHER. 


125 


reading as she laid aside her wraps and passed the 
common greetings of friendship. 

Then Mrs. Eaynor and Maud left her. 

She has the face of a crowned victor, mother, — 
a victory in the most trying race. I shall be in awe 
of her.’’ 

She seems to me a sterling character, my daughter ; 
a woman to be loved of women. How hard it must 
have been for her to give up the love of such a charm- 
ing man as Mr. Nickerson, and to feel that all this 
anguish came because one of her own sex sinned 
against the sacredness of their engagement ! How do 
men and women dare transgress the laws of God in 
such ways ! Do they think He is blind, or that His 
righteousness shall fail of its exactions in their case ? 
He has said that ‘ Whatsoever a man soweth that shall 
he also reap,’ and His word never fails. People have 
to suffer for their sins, and according to their sins. I 
pity Minnie Swan and Robert Nickerson when their 
day of retribution comes.” 

‘‘I presume Mr. Nickerson is enduring his day of 
retribution now. It must have been a terrible up- 
heaval of primitive rock which sent him from the fa- 
miliar places of home, society, and business into exile.” 

I pray it may be so ; and that, purified as by fire, 
he may return and build the old wastes with Miss 
Ingalls. They seemed exactly suited to each other. 
Whatever temptations may come in your way, my dear 
daughter, remember this, — never become fondly famil- 
iar with a man whose heart belongs to another. In the 
code of morals this is the unpardonable sin, with only 
wreck and ruin in its course.” 


126 THE EOMANCE OP THE HEW BETHESDA. 

After the Eaynors leave the chamber, Gertrude In- 
galls, in fresh apparel, sits down by the small table. 
Her head is bowed upon her hand, and her lips move 
in prayer. It is her daily and hourly plea that the 
good God will give her strength to lean upon His 
changeless love and do life’s work in His name. And 
then for Eobert, that his eyes may be opened to see 
that great peace have they who love the heavenly law, 
and nothing can offend them ; while the wicked are 
like the troubled sea, tempest-tossed. Prayer is her 
girdle of supporting power, and the Divine Word her 
promise of help. She reads verse after verse of what 
the saints of old said and did in life’s straits. She re- 
peats again and again the forgiveness of the ^Jross, her 
thought with Eobert in his exile. At length she re- 
members that her friends may deplore the long waiting, 
and trips lightly down the stairs. Young Mr. Eoss- 
ville suddenly meets her with a great joy upon his face. 
Hot a guest at the Old Stage Tavern, nor a single 
member of the family of the host, but did homage to the 
rare beauty of Gertrude Ingalls. She is glad of the 
hearty welcome. A change in the old scene of home 
and street and schoolroom will help a heart grown 
weary in the set grooves of duty. She goes uncon- 
sciously out to the piazza. Alex and Mr. Hammond 
are coming in from the woods. They pass her, and 
as the young men climb the stairs, Mr. Hammond 
says, — 

Did you notice the young lady we passed ? ” 
noticed some one in passing, but whether young 
or old I could not tell. People are passing and re- 
passing continually, and I do not always look up.” 


THE BEAUTIFUL TEACHER. 


127 


You ought to have looked up. She was as radiant 
as the sunset, — a most beautiful woman.’^ 

She must have been my mother’s friend, the teacher 
from Boston. She expected her to-day.” 

That young lady is fit for a goddess. It is not pos- 
sible such beauty is allowed to brood in a schoolhouse. 
We shall see her at supper. Let us dress, Alex.” 

As they gather in the office before the dining-room 
doors are open, — guests become ravenously hungry in 
this high latitude, — Miss Ingalls is with her friend 
Mrs. Kay nor, and the young men are introduced. Mr. 
Hammond lingers in conversation, holding Gertrude 
for the moment by his brilliant powers. Kichmond 
and Willie hurry upstairs to wash off the evident signs 
of contact with fishing-boats, bait, and summer dust. 
They have caught sight of Miss Ingalls. 

“ Eich, is n’t the Boston schoolma’am pretty as a 
picture ? Would n’t you be glad to have her in our 
school ? ” 

Ho ; I ’m afraid we ’d look at her all the time and 
forget our lessons.” 

. There would be danger of that. Let ’s astonish 
mother by fixing up.” 

Bred now rushes in, and the boys take especial pains 
to look well at the supper-table. 

Kich, this is the night we ’re going to have the 
show.” 

“ Oh, yes; the lifting show. I don’t believe they 
can lift me with just their fingers, let alone a big man. 
Hurry, Bred ; we ’re late.” 

The boys have beautified themselves in an astonish- 
ingly short time, and now rush over the stairs in any- 


128 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

thing but a decorous gait. The family have gone in 
to tea, and they pause and grow a trifle abashed 
as Miss Ingalls’s face shines upon them from their 
family table. Mr. Winters and Mr. Hammond have 
been transferred to the same table. . It is now full. 
The boys are introduced in quiet tones to their 
mother’s friend, and the hour passed in the supper- 
room sparkles with witty and delightful conversation. 
They promenade the piazza a few moments in the 
gloaming, and then, so eager are the boys for the show, 
as they call it, that all repair to the parlors. Hints 
go from one to another that something unusual is to 
happen, and all who are curious hasten to see. 

Mr. Hammond introduces the entertainment by 
saying that any one volunteering will be lifted from 
the carpet by the ends of the fingers of four persons 
present, and two of the lifters may be girls. Eich- 
mond Eaynor, with an air of unbelief, volunteers. He 
thinks they had better try a boy first. The four - 
lifters inflate the lungs, and slipping the ends of their 
fingers under the prone form of the lad lift him as 
high as their shoulders. Larger persons now volun- 
teered, and were lifted one after another, until the 
witnesses began to think Mr. Hammond a witch, when 
Mr. Far well came forward. He was over six feet in 
height, and weighed nearly two hundred. The lungs 
of the lifters were inflated, and after two or three trials 
Mr. Far well was lifted, though not quite so high as 
Master Eichmond Eaynor. The entertainment was 
greatly enjoyed, especially by the children, and the 
philosophy of the inflation duly discussed. After- 
wards there was singing, and the voice of the Boston 


THE BEAUTIFUL TEACHER. 129 

teacher added interest to the songs both old and 
new. 

As Mr. Hammond and Alex Eaynor walked to the 
Spring before retiring, Miss Ingalls came up again for 
discussion. 

How does it happen that so handsome a woman 
lives single until she is twenty-five: do you know 
Alex ? ' 

''My mother has told me. Mother teaches us by 
example. She gives us object lessons, and she gave 
Miss Ingalls’s love history to impress a moral upon her 
son. The story had a powerful effect.” 

" I should think so. You are as shy as a fawn. 
You hardly look at the pretty girls here. Tell me 
the story, please. It may help me. If I have a weak- 
ness, it is my admiration for every lovely girl I see.” 

"Five years ago she was here with her lover, a 
young Boston lawyer. They seemed perfectly happy 
together for a few days, when a family came whom 
her lover knew. He had in charge a case for this Mr. 
Swan involving many thousand dollars, and had been 
quite a frequent caller at his home. The daughter, 
Minnie, was too young to have developed common- 
sense, if she is ever to possess that needed ingredient 
of character, and she was charmed with the young 
lawyer, and took every possible method of showing 
her feeling. Nickerson, like plenty of other fools, 
enjoyed her adoration, and I guess he paid her back 
more than an engaged man had any right to, and the 
matter went on until Miss Ingalls lost confidence in 
him ; and after the trial Nickerson lost confidence 
in himself. He had lost the case, and lost the girl he 


130 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

loved, and Minnie Swan’s fascinations died out like the 
flash of fireflies, as such false and wrong attractions 
always do ; and Nickerson fled, nobody knows where.” 

And the goddess went to teaching school. It is 
an abominable shame ! ” 

I think she must be happy in her calling. Her 
face is wonderfully serene. She is more beautiful 
than I supposed, though my mother always spoke of 
her as a lovely girl.” 

“ She is the handsomest blonde T ever saw. 1 like 
dark eyes best, — I suppose from contrast.” 

Are you not engaged, Mr. Hammond ? Pardon the 
question, but we used to have such a joke on the 
Divinity boys about early engagements.” 

The world is so full of beautiful women it is hard 
to decide. I believe a minister ought to be married 
before he settles over a parish, but I am no nearer 
that desirable event than when I entered college ; in 
fact, not so near. I knew then a girl whom I thought 
I might some day marry, but she slipped away from 
me into the unseen country.” 

Suppose you try for Miss Ingalls. You have both 
loved and lost.” 

If she were dark, and as radiant, I would ; but two 
such light persons do not mate well.” 

Are you going to mate according to. physiological 
rules, Hammond ? -If I ever see a girl that I love, I 
shall not stop to ask whether she- is a good contrast.” 

The contrast admits of a stronger attachment, so 
the wise say.” 

“Nonsense ! Look at my father and mother. They 
are about the same color, blue-gray eyes and brown 


THE BEAUTIFUL TEACHER. 


131 


hair, and they are the dearest pair of lovers that ever 
were mated. There is no flaw in their conduct toward 
each other. They are perfectly respectful always, as 
much so as strangers, and as lover-like as though life 
were a perpetual honeymoon.’’ 

Be thankful, young man, for your birthright. It 
is worth something as an outfit for life, to be happily 
born. I wonder what makes the world so full of 
clashing and discord, and the happy homes so rare ? ” 

That you ministers may have something to do, I 
suppose. To elevate and purify the life of the home 
ought to be an ambition worthy of the highest endow- 
ments. I go into other homes sometimes with the 
fellows, and positively I could not endure to be spoken 
to as some parents speak to their children. Father 
and mother are as polite to us as though we were peo- 
ple of consequence; and I have come to think that 
children should be spoken to politely always, and it 
pains me to witness what some have to suffer. You 
have noticed the Stoddards. How they yell at each 
other on the croquet-ground, — father, mother, and 
children all alike ! I could not play within hearing of 
their unpleasant tones.” 

I wish I were going to preach next Sunday. I 
have a sermon on the home, and positively I would 
take it. Wonder what Marshall will talk about? 
Don’t you think him very reserved ? ” 

“He is very tired. His first settlement was in an 
exacting place, and he has worked up to the limit of 
his ability.” 

'fThat may account for it. But we all come here 
because we are tired. I suppose each has to take his 


132 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

own way of resting. . It has rested me, meeting such 
a royal fellow as my friend Raynor.” 

I don’t like to be too much alone. A congenial 
companion increases enjoyment. I can heartily recip- 
rocate your sentiment. There is my mother with Miss 
Ingalls. How romantic to go to the healing pool at 
night ! Father cannot be far off j he guards mother 
in such loving ways.” 

<'That is your father with Miss Maud, if I mistake 
not. They are bearing ^ Moses’ between them. Let us 
not intrude. I want to see Miss Ingalls by the morn- 
ing light next time.” 

The young men disappear in the shadows and seek 
their own rooms; Mr. Hammond’s thought lingers 
around the question of mating. 

^ ''Young Eossville ought to marry. A great home 
like this needs a feminine head as well as a masculine. 
Women often need to confide or counsel about the 
things that happen from day to day. Fancy a woman 
trying to approach Mr. Eossville! He is as shy as 
a girl.” 

" Have you seen him greet Gertrude Ingalls ? It is 
like worship, my mother says.” 

Gertrude Ingalls does not seem made of common 
clay. I can appreciate Mr. Eossville’s worship of such 
a girl as she.” 

" There is a rumor about the house that Ellison and 
Miss Vinton may sometime marry.” 

"She is very suave and agreeable. He may marry 
her if he wants to. On the whole, I think I would 
rather see him married to Miss Vinton than even wor- 
shipping Miss Ingalls.” 


THE BEAUTIFUL TEACHER. 


183 


Hammond ! You are seriously touched by the 
blonde’s beauty. The idea of grudging the very best 
to Mr. Eossville ! ” 

“I hear your family coming. What a glad girl’s 
laugh your mother has ! Such a laugh can come only 
from a happy heart. She has four boys. I hope none 
of you will make that laugh less glad;” and Mr. 
Hammond, with a sigh born of bitter memories, bade 
his friend good-night. 


134 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


MENTAL TONIC. 


'' T AM SO glad we are to hear Mr. Marshall this 
1 evening, are you not, Mrs. Raynor? The 
Church of the Ancient Brotherhood has had the service 
two Sundays in succession, and now it is our turn ” 
said Miss Vinton. ^ 

“He is a charming singer, and I hope he can preach 
well. We have missed you. Miss Vinton : have you 
been ill?” 


“ Oh, no ; Dr. Eossville invited me to pass a few 
days with his wife. She is lonely, even though the 
house is thronged. Congenial companionship cannot 
always be found in a summer hotel. I have known 
the family a long time ; we are very intimate. I saw 
Maud with Susie and Helen. What a dear girl your 
daughter is! She must be a great comfort to you. 
You are a blessed woman, Mrs. Raynor, in your 
family.^^ 

“Maud is interested in Susie and Helen, and passes 
all her spare time with them. They are reading to- 
gether Tennyson’s ‘ In Meinoriam.’ ” 


'Ht is a profound poem for such young ladies.” 
^^Maud studied it in her course at college and 
explain all the blind passages.”. 


can 


MENTAL TONIC. 


135 


What a help that will be to Susie ! Susie is such 
a dear girl, and so faithful, I am glad Miss Kaynor 
likes her.” 

Well, Sicily, I Ve been hunting for you. Seems to 
me you ran off rather unceremoniously. I reckoned 
on your staying over Sunday.” 

<^Oh, Dr. Rossville, I had a delightful visit; and I 
must come to my own room on Saturday night, you 
know.” 

My wife is going to have the pot pie to-day just 
as they make it in Pine Hollow, and you must come 
down to dinner. She expects ye.” 

‘‘How very kind ! I’m sorry I spoke about it. It 
is a great deal of bother to make it. Doctor.” 

“ Bother ! no. My wife don’t count it bother to 
cook. She ’s used to it, and likes it, Sicily. I ’m going 
down to the pool. Don’t you want to go along ? ” 

“ I have just declined dear Mrs. Eaynor’s invitation, 
and it won’t do to go now. I have a great deal of 
religious reading to do to-day. Eeligious reading on 
Sunday, Doctor, always. I don’t believe in secular 
reading on Sunday, nor Sunday newspapers. They 
are very demoralizing.” 

“Oh, Sicily, don’t get narrow! There’s worse 
things than reading the papers on Sunday. It is 
worse to neglect yOur health. There’s Colonel 
Eaynes. He ’ll die, just because he don’t do as he is 
told. Tremendous will a man must have, to say he 
can’t drink a glass of water ! Ought to die ! Such 
folks have n’t backbone enough to live ! ” 

“ The Eaynors have talked with him, and say he is 
disheartened. He does not want to live. The war 


136 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

made such changes, you know. It was so delightful 
to be taken care of by the colored people ! 

“He can be taken care of by the colored people 
now. Plenty of ’em down there, and he ’s able to pay. 
Better go down, Sicily. It is next to worship to go 
to the Spring. I don’t want you to forget about the 
angel round the old Bethesda, and he ’s just as much 
here as he was there ; ” and Dr. Eossville passed on, 
while Miss Vinton went to her room to engage in 
religious reading. 

“Well, ’Squire, you’re in good company. You’re 
always in good company. I ’m glad you ’re not afraid 
to stir the waters on Sunday. Sicily would n’t come 
down. It is a good thing to be pious, but we make 
a mistake when we are scared to go where the angels 
go. The Spring, ’Squire, opens right into the place 
where the Bible was made, and all the piety comes 
from. That girl along of your wife, — seems to me 
I ’ve seen her before.” 

“That is the young lady who was here with the 
lawyer who drove the ox-team to Shaker Village five 
years ago.” 

“ Oh, yes. Very handsome girl. Is the lawyer here 
too ? ” 

“He is in the West, I believe.” 

“I thought they’d get married before this time. 
But there ’s no reckoning on young folks nowadays. 

I believe my boys are bound to be old bachelors, 
every one of ’em. It makes me sorry. I want the 
Eossville name to live along with the New Bethesda, 
forever.” 

“ It will. Doctor,, whether your sons marry or not. 


MENTAL TONIC. 


137 


The pool and its discoverer are inseparably linked, and 
will continue so to the end of time.^^ 

Is n’t that Harwell along with Colonel Eaynes ? ” 

“Yes; Harwell talks-with him every time he meets 
him, and so does Winters; but you cannot move 'him 
any more than you could move the Gulf of Mexico.” 

“ I want the folks that come here to get well. It 
hurts the Spring if they don’t. Nobody outside knows 
how contrary they act. If they come here and don’t 
yet well, the Spring is blamed. Eaynes himself will 
go home and say the New Bethesda couldn’t cure 
him ! Of course, just looking at it won’t cure.” 

“ Some people are immovable, Doctor. I would not 
be troubled about it. Enough are cured to carry the 
tidings far and wide. You will have to enlarge your 
accommodations.” 

Mr. Hammond and Alex were sitting under the 
trees, while Mr. and Mrs. Eaynor, Maud and Miss 
Ingalls, remained under the balcony of the Spring. It 
was Mr. Hammond’s glimpse by daylight^ He had 
been late to breakfast, and missed the methodical 
teacher. The brilliant sunset in whose light he first 
saw the goddess,- and the illuminated parlors after- 
ward, shed no glamour over her face. The searching 
day faund neither fault nor flaw. He made no com- 
ments, but passed a mental verdict altogether satisfac- 
tory, while he talked with his friend of other things. 

“ Have you seen Marshall ? We young fellows take 
it seriously when a service lies a few hours before us. 
I suppose W^inters is always cool and calm, but I am 
full of tremors. I heard a young man say the other 
day that he had lost seven pounds of flesh in a week, 


138 THE EOMANCE OE THE NEW BETHESDA. 

and the sole cause was the anxiety he felt about tak- 
ing the service for an old minister in a large city 
church. The world may think of us as volatile and 
care-free, but the deeps are alive with religious fervors 
and holy desires.” 

^^It is a very exacting profession. You have to 
make one or two pleas every week. A lawyer would 
not think he could do such a vast amount of intellec- 
tual work,” 

^^We could not do it without the suggestions and 
inspirations of the Bible. If our minds are dull 
and unproductive, we read from the Book and are 
quickened. One little sentence will suggest a whole 
sermon. That is the secret of the minister’s pro- 
longed years of original labor. The highest and most 
profound themes stimulate and attract him continu- 
ally. There is mental tonic in a meditation on im- 
mortality, or the Beatitudes of Him who brought to 
light this great doctrine of the Church.” 

“Do you ever feel that the profession holds you too 
closely ; that there are worldly things you would like 
to do, if not for its condemnation ? ” 

“The ministry condemns no good worldly work, and 
the minister’s life is given to a warfare against evil.” 

“ Suppose you wanted to speculate in stocks, (Tr buy 
houses and farms, not willing that old age should find 
you penniless ; could you do so without violating the 
religious ideal ? ” 

“We are saved from these temptations, dear Kay- 
nor, by our poverty. We never have anything ahead 
to invest in Atchison and Topeka, or houses and lands. 
And we give up the world, — I mean we choose to live 


MENTAL TONIC. 


139 


without its treasures and accumulations, — when we 
enter the profession.” 

Suppose some rich parishioner should leave you 
a handsome bequest. Would you dare invest it in 
worldly-wise ways ? ” 

“ I should consider it duty to invest it as safely and . 
profitably as possible. I would not run any wild-cat 
risks. Prudence and forethought, the same virtues 
that are honorable to manhood, are alike honorable ' 
to the minister. He is a man, with a man’s human 
needs.” 

There is something pathetic to me in the self- 
denial and narrow ways followed by the profession. 
There are exceptions, of course. Though young men 
of wealth seldom enter the ministry, the minister 
sometimes marries a rich wife ; and in that case, if 
he has wisdom enough to manage her property, he 
will be saved the haunting spectre of an old age of 
poverty.” 

I am not troubled by that spectre, Alex, and do 
not believe it haunts the profession generally.” 

You are young. Perhaps I received too deep an 
impression from an old minister who used to come to 
our house to see Grandmother. He did not look as 
though he had ever had a square meal in his life ; and 
Grandma has told me how little he received for his 
services, and how circumscribed he was in everything.” 

You are counting out the spiritual satisfactions, 
the joy and peace of believing and serving in so divine 
a calling.” 

“These helps must be overwhelming, when we 
consider how fully the clergy rely upon them. But, 


140 THE EOMANCB OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Hammond, they will not feed and clothe your family, 
nor pay your house-rent.’’ ' “ 

Transmuted into work they will. ^ Seek ye first 
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all 
these things shall be added unto you.’ Not in any 
miraculous way. Seeking involves toil. Seeking 
righteousness means seeking a righteous life in all its 
ramifications ; right relations with the business world 
and the social world, as well as the religious world. 
Such a man will never lack.” 

As long as he can work, perhaps not. But when 
he is old, and the people begin to have itching ears 
for a young voice, how then ? ” 

Oh, then, Alex, interest on the invested bequest will 
have to keep him ! I have no fear. The promise will 
never fail. Failure and suffering come because the 
promise has not been kept in all the wideness of its 
meaning.” 

Suffering comes to many a faithful minister, I 
believe, because the people fail of keeping the promise. 
It is a great calling, Hammond, and the pews do not 
realize their obligation, or such specimens as Grandma’s 
minister would never be seen.” 

^^The ladies are rising to .go home. Let us join 
them.” 

“Would you like a walk through the woods, Alex, 
or do you and Mr. Hammond prefer to linger here ? ” 
said Mrs. Eaynor, as she turned toward the entrance 
to the sylvan way. “Come, Charley, let us all go 
together,” as Mr. Eaynor lingered talking with his 
friends from Philadelphia and New Orleans. 

Mr. Eaynor joined his wife, and Maud walked with 


MENTAL TONIC. 


141 


Miss Ingalls. Mr. Hammond took his place with the 
young ladies, while Alex bent over the open book on 
his knee, saying he would read until the dinner-hour. 

On reaching one of the convenient benches in the 
heart of the shadow, Maud found Susie and Helen 
waiting for her. They had agreed to read an hour 
in this quiet place, and she turned to sit down with 
them. Miss Ingalls was left to walk on with Mr. Ham- 
mond or join the young 'ladies, which she hesitated to 
do, as she had not been invited to take part in the read- 
ings. Gertrude showed embarrassment, which Maud 
was sensitive enough to understand, and at once she 
invited her to stop and read an hour before going up 
to the house. 

“ May I not read with you ? It will be a pleasure. 
I have heard about the Tennyson Club ; ” and Mr. 
Hammond halted with Miss Ingalls. They were not 
far from the chair which she had constructed from the 
limbs of the young beech. Memory suffused her face. 
Mr. Hammond noticed the heightened color and the 
brilliant beauty of the telltale blood. A new seat 
had to be improvised, as the bench would not accom- 
modate all, and Gertrude wove again a sylvan chair. 
Then the reading began. Mr. Hammond’s musical 
voice rang among the trees like the tones of a minor 
bell. He was in high spirits and at his best, called 
out by his deepening admiration for Miss Ingalls. 
The readings and Miss Kaynor’s comments continued 
an hour and a half, and even Mr. Hammond, with his 
college honors fresh upon him, felt that he had learned 
something about the mystical poem which he never 
knew before. 


142 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

you assist in the singing to-night, Miss 
Ingalls ? We want to support Marshall handsomely. 
I have interviewed nearly all the musical people here. 
I want a fuller volume, if possible, than we had at the 
last service.” 

<^Ah, Mr. Hammond, the Tracys would not sing 
for you because you dance,” said Miss Eaynor in an 
impulsive and half-jesting tone. 

^^Was that the reason ? They dance. I have 
danced with them.” 

But you are a minister, and there is a sentiment 
against it. Ministers are examples.” 

^^If it is wrong to dance we had better all stop. I 
will set the example of stopping if you think the 
Tracys will follow it.” 

^^Not that. They think it right for them but wrong 
for you, because you are, or should be, an example to 
the flock.” 

Mr. Hammond seemed to be meditating. He was 
very sensitive to blame, and felt the weight of Miss 
Raynor’s remark. He wanted to stand well in her es- 
teem and that of Miss Ingalls also. 

''Is there much of that feeling among the people 
here ? ” 

"I suppose everybody thinks with the Tracys on 
that question.” 

•Maud had committed herself, and it was her dispo- 
sition to be thorough when once a disagreeable duty 
confronted her. 

" I wish some one had been kind enough to tell me. 
I like to dance, and have joined in the pastime because 
I enjoy it, and because young men were needed, sup- 


MENTAL TONIC. 


143 


posing that in such a place as this no harm could come 
of it either through example or otherwise. What do 
you think, Miss Ingalls ? Is it wrong for a minister 
to dance ? ” 

“Not wrong, perhaps ; and yet I should not wish the 
minister with whom I had danced, to bury my dead.” 

“ Wa have to pass suddenly from grave to gay, in 
our profession. My friend Winters attended three 
weddings and three funerals in one day. They were 
so arranged that they alternated. He went from one 
to the other, finishing the day by a home wedding at 
evening, where all were gay and happy. And so the 
l^racys would not* sing for me because I dance. You 
sang. Miss Eaynor.” 

“ I believe in doing as I would be done by. The 
service was for our spiritual help, and the singing an 
expected part of it, which it was our duty to add to 
your offering.” 

“ I supposed it was because I belong to the Church 
of the Ancient Brotherhood that the Tracys and 
■-others were absent. Thank you for telling me. Miss 
Eaynor.” 

The guests were pressing in to dinner. Many had 
come from surrounding towns as a kind of holiday 
excursion. Young men with their sweethearts came 
timidly in to the tables. Maud observed one of these 
couples with interest, and was sure they got up from 
the table hungry. They had not known how to order 
a sufficient dinner. And then it was painful to see 
them trying to use the silver in unaccustomed ways, 
not willing to seem singular among so many. How 
quickly home-training is discoverable in public places I 


144 THE EOMANCE' OF. THE NEW BETHESDA. 

The young people are advertising agents of the man- 
ners and customs in which' they have been reared, 
and no amount of after training can wholly gloss over 
early defects. 

Mr. Marshall had kept himself so aloof from the 
life of the house except on the rare occasions when he 
played accompaniments or sang, that he was scarcely 
known by many of the guests ; whereas young Ham- 
mond was on familiar terms with numbers of them, 
and known by all. 

There was a large gathering in the parlors at evening. 
The people came and were seated in good season. Miss 
Vinton, radiant with anticipation, assisted certain el- 
derly ladies to comfortable seats, and busied herself in 
seeing that all the singers were in position and supplied 
with books. There was time for a good deal of ar- 
rangement and anticipation. When every prelimi- 
nary was adjusted, the audience waited breathlessly, 
after a while a little nervously.' When Mr. Marshall 
came in he seemed aware of having kept the people 
waiting beyond the hour. He came forward to the 
improvised desk hurriedly, after the manner of the elder 
Dickens. Tluere were no outward signs of embarrass- 
ment. The singing was inspiring. Prejudice had 
kept none in the background, and the young man ac- 
quitted himself like a veteran. His sermon was brill- 
iant with illustration and alive with the latest thought 
in theology and science. The SpringHeld Board would 
hardly have sent young Marshall as a missionary if 
the sermon at the Hew Bethesda House had been the 
criterion. 

Mr. Winters rejoiced in its spirit, and so did Mr. 


MENTAL TONIC. 


145 


Hammond. Secretly there were others who were glad 
of its noble tone and fraternal sentiments. 

A delightful service ! ” exclaimed Miss Vinton, as 
little groups sought the open air after the close and 
heated temperature of the parlors, — ‘‘a young man of 
rare promise.” 

It pays to stay apart in the desert or on the moun- 
tain, Alex, before one faces such a responsibility. A 
man gets possession of himself in this way,” said Mr. 
Hammond. 

^^He gets possession of the eternal helps,” said Mr. 
Winters, ^^and learns thus to forget himself.” 

Is there really no difference, father ? Do all the 
ministers preach the gospel of hope nowadays ? ” said 
Maud. 

Hot all, my daughter ; but an educated young man 
would not advance objectionable dogmas in such an 
audience as a summer hotel affords.” 

^^It is a fair expression of the sermons I listen 
to every Sunday from old Dr. Wise,” said Miss 
Vinton. 

Miss Ingalls walked arm in arm with Mrs. Raynor. 

“ It was a brilliant sermon, Gertrude.” 

“ Yes ; but I enjoy and am helped more by the 
simple quiet unction of a minister whom I must strain 
my ears to hear. He has been my pastor from child- 
hood, and I have learned of him to listen for the still 
small voice.” 

‘^Then you would not enjoy being electrified; but 
there are many who demand that style.” 


10 


146 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

A HOLIDAY OPPORTUNITY. 

ES. EAYNOE and Miss Ingalls passed much 



of their time together in the open air, while 


quite an intimate friendship had grown between ’Squire 
Eaynor and Mr. Winters. One day as Kate and Ger- 
trude were reading under the pines, and the gentlemen 
not far off whittling canes and talking on humanita- 
rian questions, Mr. Hammond came to them, saying : 

We want to make up a party for a drive to Bates- 
ville. Will you join us ? ” 

« It would break the monotony ; let us go, Charles,” 
said Mrs. Eaynor. 

Monotony, Kate, on the hills of the Kew Be- 
thesda ! That is a slander. Everything is fresh, as 
though a new world were created each day especially 
for our enjoyment.” 

I have sat in this hammock a good many times, 
Charles, and you have quite a forest of canes which 
you have whittled sitting on that very bench, or one 
nearly like it.” 

‘^And yet every cane is an individual invention. 
The heads are different, and no two of them measure 
the same in length or circumference. My very whit- 
tlings are original. Ko monotony here, Katy ! ” 

Will you go for the sake of the ride ? I want 
to go.” 


A HOLIDAY OPPORTUNITY. 


147 


There ’s a rival pool at Batesville,” said Mr. Ham- 
mond. Mr. Raynor will be interested in that.’’ 

I don’t wish to see any other water than the Hew 
Bethesda. But, Katy, if you wish to go, I will go. 
How many can you take ? ” 

All who desire to go will be provided with teams. 
I would like a congenial company in the barge. I 
have been teasing Marshall, and he has really promised 
to go ; also Alex, Miss Raynor, and Miss Vinton.” 

“1 wish Susie and Helen could go with us,” said 
Mrs. Raynor. 

“ The very thing Maud has gone to see about.” 

^^When do you propose to depart? Can I finish 
my cane ? ” said Mr. Raynor. 

Go at once. Dine at Bates ville, and drive over 
the hills. It is a perfect day.” 

Maud was seen coming with Susie and Helen. The 
ladies returned to their rooms for needed changes of 
apparel ; and soon the barge, with Mr. Marshall, Mr. 
Winters, and Mr. Hammond, the Raynors, Miss Vinton, 
Maud, Susie, Helen, and Miss Ingalls, was speeding 
down the hill. To say that Mr. Hammond had planned 
the excursion on purpose to become more acquainted 
with Miss Ingalls, might be making an extreme state- 
ment ; but this thought was certainly uppermost. She 
was always with Mrs. Raynor or Miss Maud, and to 
join them would seem intrusive. The days were flying, 
and Everett Hammond was missing a coveted oppor- 
tunity. A ride of twenty miles would bring; the party 
into proximity, and a chance for character study in 
connection with the charm of a beautiful presence 
would be thus afforded. The knowledge that Miss 


148 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Ingalls had loved and lost was no barrier. In fact, 
there was a pathetic charm about this experience 
which caused him to think of the young teacher with 
a lingering fondness. He did not dare imperil his 
hopes by any bold or sudden approach, but he wished 
to originate something that would allow him to be for 
hours in her presence without seeming to have made 
that desire an object. Mr. Hammond as an inimita- 
ble story-teller, a fine singer, and an excellent mimic. 
The rural way afforded opportunity for the happy com- 
pany to indulge in a gay mood without offence against 
any proper notion which might receive a shock on hear- 
ing a barge full of people singing songs. There were 
long stretches of sparsely settled or wooded country, 
and these were utilized for the most hilarious songs. 
Alex Raynor, usually demure and. studious, could sing 
his college songs with spirit, and with Mr. Hammond 
to lead, and the ladies, who if much associated with 
college men learn these songs, to follow, there was 
singing that aroused the echoes as they sped along. 
Mr. Hammond was gratified that Miss Ingalls joined 
them. She did not live in shadow because of her dis- 
appointment, but made herself agreeable in whatever 
society she chanced to be. 

When the singing waned, story followed story, Mr. 
Winters and ’Squire Raynor being apparently in a 
strife as to which should obtain a certain mysterious 
prize which Miss Vinton had offered for the best. The 
drive was delightful in its exhilarating accompani- 
ments, and the pleasant town of Batesville reached all 
too soon. To see the pool which in ambitious rivalry 
was sending out its advertisements was the object of 


A HOLIDAY OPPOETUNITY. 149 

the excursion, and the party stopped at the hotel 
which had sprung up in connection with it. It was 
somewhat late, and the dinner not what it would have 
been an hour before. But good appetites had been 
provoked by the drive, and in the midst of pleasant 
faces and bright comments everything was merry as 
marriage bells. 

In pairing off for a walk to the spring Mr. Ham- 
mond adroitly drew Miss Ingalls into conversation 
which could not well be broken off, and they walked 
together. The subject led into personal experiences 
as illustrations, and Mr. Hammond gave Miss Ingalls 
some of the salient points of his career. He was sin- 
gularly confiding in this way, seeming to desire a full 
understanding of himself as the beginning of coveted 
friendships. Miss Ingalls listened and commented, 
but she was not tempted to any history of her past 
by the example of the young minister. What he had 
learned through the Eaynors was all he seemed likely 
to possess. But the walk furnished vantage-ground 
which he could follow, and perhaps up and down the 
planks at the New Bethesda or through the woodland 
ways he might walk with Miss Ingalls. A few days 
yet remained before the shepherd must seek his 
gathering flock. 

^^It is clearer than the New Bethesda,” said Mr. 
Marshall, as the party held their sparkling glasses, 
seated on the encircling benches or standing under the 
conical roof. 

“ Look up,” said Mr. Winters. All looked at a deep- 
blue ceiling ; then some went outside to examine their 
glasses. 


150 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

It is the blue ceiling, Mr. Marshall,’’ said ’Squire 
Eaynor, ^‘that gives the exquisite clearness to the 
water. It is delicious water, a good, pure spring; but 
the New Bethesda heals the sick, and restores the lame, 
and makes the blind to see. In my heart it can have 
no rival.” 

^^Nor in mine,” said Mr. Winters. “We who count 
ourselves among the restored, and now visit the New 
Bethesda out of ^ gratitude,’ as Dr. Bossville says, shall 
not be likely to be drawn away from our first love.” 

“ Beal help from any source should hold our loy- 
alty,” said Mrs. Eaynor. 

“Your remark ought to be true as regards the help 
of the Church, certainly,” said Mr. Winters ; “ and yet 
not all the lepers give thanks for their healing. It 
was so in the time of Jesus, and is increasingly the 
case in our day.” 

“ In social life too,” said Mrs. Eaynor, “ instead of 
being true to our helpers, how often we see persons 
tire of those who are of real service to them, and even 
resent as intrusive their kindnesses.” 

“And did a teacher ever know such a thing as loyal 
love from her pupils ? ” exclaimed Miss Vinton. 

“ There is one phase of this lack of loyalty,” con- 
tinued Mrs. Eaynor, “ which seems to me peculiarl}’- 
ungracious and hard, and that sometimes shows itself 
in the home. I have a dear friend, — we have loved 
each other since childhood, — a woman of rare intel- 
lectual gifts, whose husband is a professional man. She 
is a great help to him in many ways ; but that man 
would go to the stake sooner than confess that his 
wife ever helps him. If she pours her power through 


A HOLIDAY OPPOHTUNITY. 


151 


him, it is thereby transmuted to his, and she gets 
neither thanks nor glory.’’ 

“And who has not known young persons, lovers 
perhaps, where the lady was like a strong anchor hold- 
ing the purpose to honor and duty, and some attractive 
girl who had nothing to commend her but her co- 
quettish ways came along and caught him with her 
eyelids, and lo, he was no more ! ” said Mr. Hammond. 

This expression brought the flush of recollection to 
Miss Ingalls’s cheeks, and it seemed to Mrs. Eaynor 
almost cruel of Hammond. She hastened to give 
another experience. She was a woman whose life had 
touched closely other lives. Men and women trusted 
her, and turned to her for counsel. 

“ I have a case to the point,” said she ; “ an old gray- 
haired man, he is now, who in youth was engaged to a 
lovely girl, true and honest and faithful as the stars in 
their courses. At a party one evening the kind of girl 
whom Mr. Hammond describes, met him and so fasci- 
nated him that he broke his engagement and afterward 
married her. His friends said he would suffer for his 
heartless deed, and he has suffered. His wife had an 
infirm temper whose offensive qualities she exaggerated 
by intoxicating liquor taken in secret, and he never 
knew a happy day of real reciprocal love and enjoy- 
ment. She did thorn him into a saint, though. He 
became ‘ lord of himself though not of lands,’ a man 
who is as sweet and gracious and gentle as the most 
saintly Sister of Charity.” 

■“ ' Perfect though suffering,’ ” said Mr. Winters. 

There were tangled growths about the pool, and the 
party dispersed to hunt for any new flower or creeping 


152 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

vine, while some climbed to the height of a rocky wall 
not far away. Mr. Hammond wondered if a certain 
tree not far from the path to the hotel were a real Lom- 
bardy poplar, and by a question put directly to Miss 
Ingalls led her apart to observe the tree. 

We have a tree in the Middle States,” said he, ^Lsel- 
dom seen in New England, — the cucumber-tree, we call 
it. It is closely related to the magnolia, and grows to 
great height and girth. The rigors of this Northern 
climate will hardly allow it to exist here.” 

“ I have seen it,” said Miss Ingalls, on the lawn of 
a friend ; but no careful cultivation could prolong its 
life. ' Its foliage grew yellow, and the next year it was 
quite dead.” 

^^I am glad I coaxed Marshall to come with us. 
Young men can hardly afford to play the recluse. He. 
seems to enjoy it, too.” 

^^He certainly seems to enjoy Miss Eaynor. ” 

I noticed that he sought her side in the walk to 
the spring.” 

He watched the play of her face during the ride, 
with a look full of admiration.” 

Sometimes these summer outings result in life- 
long attachments. Such sensible people gather at the 
New Bethesda that it is a natural thing for them to 
become attached to each other. I shall always hold 
the Kaynors as dear friends.” 

The Eossville girls are very winning. Their kind- 
ness seems so genuine, I trust them unconsciously.” 

“ Miss Helen is developing rapidly. She is becom- 
ing quite a noticeable girl, — a fine figure, and dreamy, 
interesting face.” 


A HOLIDAY OPPORTUNITY. 


153 


Maud Eaynor has been a great help to the girls in 
directing their reading and advising about their educa- 
tion. They are both going to school in the autumn.’^ 
Do you like teaching, Miss Ingalls ? ” 

It is an absorbing employment, and it is good for 
the soul to be busy.” 

“ I wish I might ask a favor which would give 
you a little more to do, if your soul really needs 
work. Are you at all interested in the humanita- 
rian movements ? ” 

Oh, yes, Mr. Hammond, — Country Week, Flowers 
for the Hospitals, Scrap-books also, and the thousand 
and one kind objects which Boston carries in her 
great heart.” 

The one I would mention is somewhat different- 
A lonely minister, not far off in foreign climes, but 
fast anchored in a New England seaport, would like 
to correspond with an intelligent woman like your- 
self. He needs counsel from the feminine heart on 
many questions which he could not carry to his pa- 
rishioners. Would you consent to serve in such a 
humanitarian direction ? ” 

“ I am an indifferent letter-writer, Mr. Hammond, 
and could neither interest nor help such wisdom as is 
supposed to inhere in the clerical profession.” - 

I think he would, care more for the counsel than 
the garb in which the thought was dressed.” 

Keally, I have other and deeper reasons. I have 
known letters to do immense harm.” 

No harm could follow, unless the correspondence 
was carried on indiscreetly, or by persons who thus 
invaded the rights of others.” 


154 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Perhaps your minister may have ' a sweetheart 
who would object to the counsel of the school-teacher. 
It is just here that I have seen the harm befall.’^ 

^‘1 promise you he has none. The sweetheart long 
since went to sleep under the daisies, or he would not 
ask this favor of another woman.” 

^^And if the woman has a sweetheart not asleep 
under the daisies, she should beware of the peril of a 
correspondence with an interesting young minister.” 

The little compliment quite put Mr. Hammond at 
ease and on good terms with himself in the face of 
Miss Ingalls’s refusal, and they rode homeward, toward 
sunset, in pleasant mood, though greatly subdued since 
the effervescence of the morning. Mr. Hammond 
decided that he would make some pretext to write to 
Miss Ingalls, and he believed she would answer him. 
This thought made the closing days at the Hew 
Bethesda less painful. He could not help seeing that 
she avoided him, though very cordial when they 
chanced to meet. It was soothing to interpret her 
manner as an excess of diffidence in the presence of 
one whom she had acknowledged as interesting. 


HER NEBULOUS CAREER. 


155 


CHAPTER XY. 

HER NEBULOUS CAREER. 

<^/^^HARLES, Mr. Marshall asked Maud to corre- 
spond with him, and said very flattering things 

to her.’’ 

Of course she did not consent ? She knows 
nothing of Mr. Marshall.” 

She asked me about it, and would like your advice 
also, before giving an answer.” 

Sensible girl, to realize that advice in such matters 
from those who have been over the road may be of 
some value. Miss Ingalls would not be teaching 
school had Minnie Swan asked her mother if it was 
proper for her to court an engaged man.” 

Then you do not approve of the correspondence ? ” 

Certainly not. Do you, Katy ? ” 

“ Xo, Charles ; I am aware of the perils of such a 
step. I should be sorry to see our daughter using 
such freedom of expression to a young man as I have 
seen in certain letters confided to my perusal.” 

<‘She would be discreet and above reproach, I have 
no doubt. But Marshall is a stranger, and though a 
minister, not to be trusted as a white saint by any 
means. What do you think Winters told me ? — Ham- 
mond confides in him everything, — that Hammond 


156 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

asked Miss Ingalls for a correspondence! Sucli a 
presumption on his part, knowing as he does her 
relations with Nickerson ! 

I suppose he thought her relations with Nickerson 
had come to an end ; but I do not think so. Such a 
patient and yet hopeful spirit covers a degree of un- 
slain love, I am sure. Her trust is shaken, but her love 
is not destroyed.” 

'' An eventful drive, was it not, Katy ? Two young 
ministers the same as proposing to the young ladies 
of the party.” 

I do not think the request for a correspondence 
involves a proposal of marriage.” 

That depends ; but when young men make that 
request they have marriage in view if all things are 
favorable.” 

“ I am glad of these closing days. Home and its 
quiet atmosphere will dissipate all the mists that 
partially obscure the vision in such a large society. 
Why, Charles, it is like a party all the time. At first 
we had each other ; but now even the boys are monopo- 
lized by others than their own family, and drawn this 
way and that, we know not whither.” 

y^s, Katy ; we know they do not go beyond the 
woods or the lakes.” 

“Richmond and Willie went on a water-wagon to 
Kingdom Station the other day. They said they only 
meant to ride a little way when the man asked them, 
but it was such boss fun that they went all the way.” 

“There was no harm in that, Katy. Boys are full 
of life, and when they let it effervesce in wholesome 
ways we must not be too exacting.” 


HEE NEBULOUS CAEEER. 157 

There is Mr. Marshall walking to the Spring with 
Maud. I hope she is not interested in him.’’ 

“ The following is doubtless all on his part. Walk- 
ing to the Spring cannot harm her.” 

The opportunity it gives him for saying flattering 
things is the chief danger.” 

What do you think Maud meant when she hinted 
about her nebulous career ? ” 

half-defined purpose to study for the ministry 
I think.” 

Therejs too much prejudice to overcome. I can 
hardly wish my daughter such a grim battle.” 

suppose we must allow our children to follow 
the leadings of fitness and desire. We can advise, but 
we transcend even parental authority when we pro- 
hibit college graduates.” 

“I am glad we have the younger boys. It is so 
natural to say to somebody, ^ Thou shalt not ’ ! ” said 
’Squire Raynor in quiet sarcasm. He never com- 
manded in his own home, but advised and counselled, 
and achieved a finer order and more hearty obedience 
than the domineering spirit can possibly gain. 

Winters is to leave this afternoon. He tells me 
that he has a wife. I supposed him to be a bachelor. 
She passes her vacations very quietly among her 
kindred.” 

don’t like that. He ought to bring her here. 
How could you and I endure separation for a whole 
summer ? ” 

^^We could endure it if necessary. I think Mr. 
Winters can hardly afford to bring her here. You 
know ministers have to do as they can, and not al- 


158 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

ways as they would. They lay up treasures in heaven, 
and have a pretty small bank-account on earth.’’ 

“He evidently enjoys the society of women. He 
is always walking with some forlorn woman, carrying 
her, ^ Moses,’ for her, or helping her in some way.” 

“ Mrs. Winters may prefer the society of her kin- 
dred. He says her family are very closely attached to 
one another, — a clannish family.” 

“ Oh, Charles, this revelation provokes my curiosity. 
I want to know just the kind of woman Mr. Winters 
has for a wife. Make him promise to bring her here 
some summer, and we will come all the way from 
Pennsylvania to see her.” 

“Miss Vinton, wait a moment. W^e are going down 
the walk ; ” said Mrs. Eaynor, as she saw that lady turn- 
ing toward the Spring. They followed and joined her. 

“I leave to-morrow, and I am so sad;” and Miss 
Vinton really looked as though she had been weeping. 

I should like to stay forever on this lovely height ; 
but I must go down to ray work. School in Pine 
Hollow begins next Monday.” 

“We must hasten too, on account of the children, 
though Charles would like to tarry longer. You and 
Mr. Eaynor ought to buy a lot here, and prepare for 
winter residence as well as summer,” said Mrs. Eay- 
nor, playfully. “I am ready to go. Indeed, I begin 
to long for home, almost counting the hours.” 

“You have enjoyed the summer ?” 

“Oh, yes; but I love my home, and the children are 
beginning to need it. There is a good deal of excite- 
ment here for young people brought up as quietly as 
ours have been.” 


HER NEBULOUS CAREER. 


159 


It will do them a great deal of good, Mrs. Kaynor, 
being here, breathing this mountain-air and drinking 
the healing water; and I don’t believe the little 
excitement will harm them. They are so decorous ; 
such orderly children.” 

They reach the Spring. Maud is sitting under the 
oaks in earnest conversation with Mr. Marshall. Mr. 
and Mrs. Eaynor are somewhat nervous as they 
observe them. Miss Ingalls evidently feels her isola- 
tion, as she reads at a little distance ; but seeing her 
friends, rises and joins them. Mr. Winters, Alex, 
and Mr. Hammond return from the lakes, where they 
have enjoyed rowing with the boys. All meet for the 
first time since the drive to Batesville. 

“ Where shall we be a week hence ? ” said Mr. 
Hammond. 

About our Father’s business, I hope,” said Mr. 
Winters. ^‘We have had a long holiday and a rare 
one, and it is time for work to begin.” 

We shall all go home refreshed, and strong to do 
the awaiting work,” observed Alex Eaynor. 

What a notable cure was Farwell’s ! He told me 
he never felt better in his life than on the morning of 
his departure. But poor Eaynes came discouraged, 
and left in the same spirit. He is to try the mountains 
awhile,” said Mr. Eaynor. 

Dr. Eossville, coming from the barrelling-house, 
heard the remark. 

Mountains won’t do him any good. He ’s com- 
mitted suicide. Come all the way from New Orleans 
to try the Spring, and then not drink! I call that 
deliberate suicide. More than fifty folks sicker than 


160 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

he have been cured this summer. Look at Gill, from 
Chicago, — as strong as Samson ! and when he come, 
it took Hugh and Ellison both to get him off the 
coach. But he believed, and he drank. That’s the 
way to do. Moses had faith when he smote the rock. 
Eaith did part of it; striking did the rest. Eaith and 
works, — that’s the way to salvation, and there ain’t 
no other.” 

Mr. Marshall and Maud drew near to listen to Dr. 
Bossville. His quaint manner and incisive truth 
always drew an audience. 

Mother, I will walk up with you. I have scarcely 
seen you since breakfast,” said Maud ; which left the 
young men to group themselves to their liking, as 
’Squire Kaynor at once stepped to the side of Miss 
Ingalls. He believed that she was annoyed by atten- 
tions from Mr. Hammond, and would protect her. 
Miss Vinton lingered with other friends who would 
sympathize with her in her sorrow at leaving the Hew 
Bethesda. 

Mrs. Kaynor and Maud strolled away from the 
others, leaving the planks for the soft grass. 

Mr. Marshall and I have had a lively discussion 
on the woman question. He does not believe woman 
has any sphere except the old one of home and soci- 
ety, and says a woman preacher is a standing menace 
of the Golden Kule and the Ten Commandments. 
He got excited, mother. I was scared at his show 
of temper. I got the better of him in the argu- 
ment, because I had the right side, and it nettled 
him awfully. Mother, I can decide without your 
help. I do not desire a correspondence with Mr. 


HER NEBULOUS CAREER. 


161 


Marshall. My minister must govern his temper even 
ill discussion.^^ 

Your father said you knew nothing about him.’^ 
He revealed himself, — a hot-headed bigot and 
as narrow as a tape, on the great questions which all 
the world is facing.” 

'‘He did preach gloriously, Maud.” 

" He did not stand by his own humanitarian philos- 
argument to-day. I wish men, especially 
ministers, would be consistent with themselves.” 

" Custom has long familiarized them with the one 
way of looking upon woman. Even when reason is con- 
vinced, many fail of living according to their donvic- 
tions. They are not converted through and through.” 

"He said his wife must think as he did in all 
things. That would reduce her to the level of a 
baby. ^Must think' ! Why cannot our opinions and 
wishes be respected as though we were individuals, 
with the same accountability which men feel ? There 
can be no true fellowship without mutual respect for 
the convictions and the feelings of each. Fancy my 
precious mother telling 'Squire Kaynor he must think 
just as she did ! It would be equally proper. Fortu- 
nately, between this blessed pair there are no awful 
chasms; but suppose there were. Suppose you be- 
lieved in the fullest freedom to your sex, and father 
did not ; your difference of opinion would be as respect- 
fully handled as the subjects on which you agree. 
It is such a glorious victory to learn to be sweet and 
gracious ! ” 

Mr. Marshall saw the close conversation of mother 
and daughter, and when all had reached the hotel and 
n 


162 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

dispersed to prepare for dinner lie lingered to greet 
their return. The roundabout grassy way made them 
some minutes behind the others. Mr. Marshall had 
reflected, and was not on good terms with himself. 

“ I have had a warm discussion with your daughter, 
Mrs. Raynor, and would like to continue it by letter, 
if you are willing. I am open to conviction on that 
question.’’ 

would rather my daughter should keep aloof 
from discussions. She has studies in hand, and lines 
of work which might suffer. Your own study and 
reflection will bring you to the light. You will not 
need to discuss the question except in the court of 
your own reason. All the world is tending toward 
liberty ; and woman, half a slave heretofore, feels the 
trend of the general thought.” 

I think it profitable to measure swords by discus- 
sion. Truth is cleft from error in this way. What 
say you. Miss Raynor ? You seemed to enjoy the tilt 
this morning ; and you bore a valiant part.” 

Let us wait a year, and if you are not converted 
by personal reflection, tell me, and I know my parents 
would not object to my doing the world a service by 
helping to liberalize one of its leaders,” said Maud, 
fearing she had been too severe in her judgment and 
decision concerning Mr. Marshall. The waters were 
oiled ; and though Maud remembered with pain the 
ungoverned temper, she felt happier because of her 
own sweet overlooking. 

No one knew that Mr. Hammond meant to take the 
afternoon coach with his friend Winters, and all were 
surprised when they saw him on the porch equipped 


HEE NEBULOUS CAEEEE. 


163 


for travelling. He had made himself so agreeable, and 
so helpful in all the games and pastimes, that there 
was quite a demonstration of regret at his departure. 
The young people gathered about him, urging him to 
remain to the end of the week 5 but to no avail. 

“I can see my flock gathering to be fed. They look 
hungry. I have not a straw for them j not even a 
spoonful of salt. I must go to my own quiet den and 
prepare for Sunday.’’ 

Mr. Hammond climbed to the top of the coach, and 
made great show of sorrow by professing to weep 
profusely. He wrung his handkerchief, and copious 
drops fell on the ground. The children wondered ; but 
the elders knew he had provided for this scene at the 
water-faucet. 

Mr. Winters takes gracious farewell of all whom he 
knows, and some whom it would puzzle him to call by 
name. He remembers even the servants, — for he 
believes and practises the faith of the Ancient Brother- 
hood. He has a few words apart with Ellison Eoss- 
ville. They are grateful words, and signs of a sincere 
and growing friendship. The coach departs, and the 
people comment. 

Winters acts as a minister ought to,” says Hr. 
Eossville ; but that youngster ’s pretty full of the 
Old Nick. He ’ll get sobered soon enough, though; 
and he does seem to enjoy making folks laugh.” 

He has amused us greatly. Doctor.” 

‘‘ It ’s a question whether the minister is just the 
one to turn clown, Sicily.” 

Oh, Doctor, he has been very polite to all the 
ladies ; and though he has told the funniest stories, 


164 THE KOMANCE OP THE NEW BETHESDA. 

and danced too, when we think a minister ought to be 
an example, he has made the house more lively and 
brilliant. Such young men add so much to a large 
company. Leaders of amusements are always needed 
in such a place.’’ 

Why, Sicily, I thought you was down on him.” 
do think him too volatile for a minister, and I 
decidedly object to his dancing ; but it is delightful to 
see the good points in departed friends.” 

Dead ones, we always do ; but we generally say 
our wickedest things behind living folks’ backs.” 

Oh, Doctor, don’t say any wicked thing about me 
when I go ! ” 

'' You ’d better stay, Sicily. I would n’t keep school 
in Pine Hollow all my days. This is leap-year, and if 
I was you I ’d do some courtin’.” 

''You make me blush. Doctor!” and Miss Vinton 
trips away. 

" Sicily is a fine girl,” says the Doctor to the listening 
group as she departs. " She and my wife was born in 
the same town, and her mother cooked the same kind 
of things. We alw^ays make a pot pie for her just as 
her mother used to.” 


CONFESSION. 


165 


CHAPTER XVI. 

CONFESSION. 

you give me one more half-day, Mrs. Ray- 
nor ? said Miss Ingalls. You have been so 
very kind, I almost hesitate to ask it on the eve of our 
departure ; but the thought of separation makes me 
aware that I have need of counsel. You know some- 
thing of the world that was mine, and I can talk with 
you.” 

It is indeed the eve of departure, and the half-day 
must be taken at once. There are no awaiting half- 
days in which to linger about the wood^ and waters 
of the Xew Bethesda. The trunks are already packed, 
and stand in silent array like grim sentinels. 

You will give the afternoon to the boys, Charley, 
and they will not miss their mother,” said Mrs. Ray- 
nor, feeling that Gertrude Ingalls had greater need of 
her than her own family. 

The ladies walk toward the entrance to the long 
path. It is a dense and secluded way, sought by few 
of the guests. Passing down the gradual descent, now 
on the softest of carpets, — the deposit of successive 
growths of pine needles, — and again over stones and 
jagged rocks, they come to a place where a small stream 
trickles across the path. There are accommodating 
bowlders near the crystal rivule’t, and the shadow of 
the dense forest is altogether inviting. They halt, and 


166 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


drop down on the cool rocks. Then Miss Ingalls re- 
members the chair where her friend found her five 
years before. Its arms are softer in recollection than 
the mossy rocks, and she looks about for a convenient 
beech. The journey of discovery is short, and soon 
the ladies have woven the lithe green limbs into a seat 
so caressing that there is no chance for them to drift 
apart during the conversation. 

Gertrude holds a little package which she unfolds, 
the telltale blood suffusing her face. 

‘^Eobert has written me, the first time in five years.’^ 
I am glad you have heard from him. I knew you 
would,’’ said Mrs. Eaynor. 

“He is in San Francisco, where he went on leaving 
Boston. He has built up quite a practice there, and 
has been very prosperous. I will read a part of the 
letter : — 

“ ‘ When I left home so unceremoniously, I was humiliated 
by defeat, and ashamed of myself. The loss of the case was 
sufficiently depressing to a man who needs success and pros- 
perity in order to keep out of the “ slough of despond ; ” but the 
loss of your confidence was a million-fold harder to bear. I 
tortured myself by recalling every silly thing which had 
helped to destroy your trust ; and while a man made up as 
I am enjoys the good opinion and praise of others, I could see 
that every word which Minnie Swan had loaded with honey- 
dew for my delight was like a sharp instrument cutting into 
my very life. And if I shuddered with shame as I remem- 
bered lingering in the atmosphere of her devotion, what was 
my torment on recalling the returns I had made in word 
and look and tone ; and I having given my heart’s love 
and promise to another, — only caring for this by-play 
as one might care for a pleasing picture or a SM^eetened 


CONFESSION. 


167 


draught! Gertrude, oh, Gertrude! humiliation is too weak 
a name for the shadow which ingulfed my very manhood. I, 
who had the wine of life within my reach, had broken the 
goblet, and now my lips pressed the gall. Every recall of 
the months in which the fascination of a tempter dishonored 
the name of lover, filled me with condemnation. I was older 
than foolish Minnie, and should have repelled her sweetness 
even at the risk of offending the whole family. They berated 
and cursed me when I lost the suit. If the cursing had come 
before the trial, it would have saved the bitterness of these 
years. 

“ ‘And then, Gertrude, I am not a petrified bundle of selfish- 
ness. I have suffered; but my deepest pain has come in 
the thought of the suffering I inflicted on you. I courted and 
won the love of one of the noblest and purest of her sex. 
She filled the horizon of my hope and satisfied my deepest 
present need. You were all in all to me, Gertrude. My love 
and loyalty to you never wavered, even when the fool’s-cap 
blinded my eyes. You could not see that. I seemed to you 
unstable, inconstant, and it is plain to me now that mv con- 
duct warranted this decision; though it piqued me then, and 
helped to drive me from you. Is there any forgiveness iir 
this world or the world to come for the suffering I have in- 
flicted on the woman I love? Think of the expression! 
Think of the deed, — loving a woman, and making her miser- 
able! An incongruous fact. But, Gertrude, I was blind. 
How often in my exile I have recalled the words of your min- 
ister the last time we went to church together; “ Retribution 
overtakes the sinner sometime, somewhere, and he cannot 
escape from himself until the uttermost farthing is paid.” 

“ ‘ I have waited until suffering had time to do its perfect 
work in me ; and the thought comes now, that while I court 
the lash that my sin may be thoroughly expiated, perhaps 
this distance and this silence may be hard for you to bear. 
Have you blotted me out of memory? I deserve it. I fully 


168 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


believe that the sin of wounding a loyal love is the unpardon- 
able sin among men. If woman can pardon, — if you can 
pardon, Gertrude, be assured that one who has felt the lash 
of retribution as ray sore heart has felt it has passed beyond 
the danger of a second fall. I shall know how to be true. I 
shall know how to prize the lost trust if it can be restored to 
me. Even Raynor, who was the pattern of all virtue in hus- 
band and lover too, shall not be more faithful than I. Ger- 
trude, once my Gertrude, is there any hope ? ’ ” 

After the reading, Mrs. Eaynor and Miss Ingalls sat 
in silence, — a tearful silence on Gertrude’s part, — 
and then the question came, — 

Can I trust him ? Dare I trust him again ? It 
was a terrible experience ; but had it come after our 
marriage, it would have been immeasurably more hu- 
miliating. Do you think he can be true ? ” 

It is genuine penitence, Gertrude. I should trust 
if he were my lover. It is hardly possible for one to 
incur again such excess of remorse. I am sure he 
will be true. We have not spoken the name of Minnie 
Swan before. What has become of her ? ” 

‘^She is married, and has gone away from the 
city.” 

“Did she marry well? Such girls seldom make 
sensible marriages.” 

“ To all appearance, very well. She married a man 
whom she had known but slightly. They did their 
courting by letter.” 

“ Minnie had a very facile pen. I remember the 
confiding way in which she wrote to Mr. Nickerson. 
You know you showed me two of her letters that day 
in the woods.” 


CONFESSION. 169 

Yes ; Eobert would read her letters and toss them 
to me with apparent unconcern.” 

“ It was real unconcern, Gertrude. Had the letters 
been precious to him he would have hoarded them. 
He carried your letters next his heart, and his dear- 
est friend never saw them. That ought to have been 
a strong evidence to you that he cared nothing for 
Minnie Swan.” 

I have tried faithfully to crucify my love for him, 
but with poor success. How I turned back to Eobert 
with a great longing when young Hammond asked me 
to correspond with him ! There seemed a degree of 
sacrilege in the very thought.” 

^‘If your love remains unchanged, Gertrude, you will 
be able to build again the broken trust. Such peni- 
tence can have only a full and free pardon. You are 
not the woman to fail to forgive when you have the 
chance. That he has asked your pardon in such a 
frank and noble way proves him a genuine and true 
man at heart.” 

“I never doubted the truth of his deepest heart; 
but oh, it is so hard to bear when a lover seems to be 
fickle, and blown about like thistle-down ! ” 

^^But even the seeming has gone by with Mr.- Nick- 
erson. You will answer him frankly and nobly, as he 
himself has written. Do not pain him by the shadow 
of a doubt.” 

must slay the last shadow of a doubt before 
I can be happy. Distrust is a perpetual haunting 
shadow. The one who feels it knows no rest. A 
dull ache throbs in every heart-beat. The pain of real 
bereavement is peace in comparison.” 


170 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

''Why, here are Eichmond and Willie! What 
brought you, my dears ? 

'‘Father has had a telegram, and wants to take the 
night train. Grandma is very sick.’’ 

The ominous shadow of bereavement gathers about 
the happy heart of Mrs. Eaynor. She had lost 
two brothers in the war, but since that fateful time 
sickness and death had passed her by. A long period 
of peaceful days unbroken and unclouded had been 
hers. Charley’s mother was like an own mother to 
her; she had spent much of her time with this favor- 
ite son, beloved and honored by all his household. A 
woman of incisive speech and clear understanding, she 
was the safe counsellor of all her children. 

The ladies hurry homeward. Miss Ingalls is taken 
out of herself in sympathy with her friend. When 
they reach their rooms they find Mr. Eaynor and 
Maud packing the hand-bags and getting together 
wraps and umbrellas. They make a hurried depart- 
ure. There is no time for Mrs. Eaynor to run down 
to the Old Stage Tavern for a parting word with Mrs. 
Eossville, nor for Maud to say good-by to Susie and 
Helen. They reach the afternoon train by great 
effort, the Jehu driving of Hugh Eossville making 
possible what the regular stage could not have done. 
Miss Ingalls has a slight dread of reaching Boston at 
night, but overcomes her fear for the sake of travel- 
ling with her friends. Mrs. Eaynor had grown very 
dear to this lonely girl, and seemed to her like mother 
and sister too. Her wisdom and girlish ways were so 
blended that she filled the void in the heart of Ger- 
trude, a void which every woman feels, bereft of these 


CONFESSION. 


171 


sacred family ties. In the face of this threatening 
loss Gertrude Ingalls tells Mrs. Kaynor of her own 
family. She had been silent with reference to any 
sorrow except her. trouble with Eobert Nickerson ; 
but during the five years she had lost both her par- 
ents and a lovely young sister. The circumstances 
Connected with their deaths were so painful that she 
could not recall the time without great anguish, nor 
could she infiict her own trouble upon happy friends. 
It was when the Eaynors were hastening home, sum- 
moned by the threat of imminent death, that she told 
them the deeps where her own soul had travailed. The 
calm which was her habitual mood seemed almost su- 
perhuman now that her weight of woes was known. 

Does Eobert know how you have been bereft ? ” 
said Mrs. Eaynor, after the painful revelation. 

He would have mentioned it in his letter had he 
known.’’ 

<<You had your great loss to bear alone! How 
sorrowful 1 ” 

^^Not alone. I have a noble brother who keeps 
the home open for me; and I found help,— unseen 
sources, scarcely dreamed of before. Pardon me for 
telling you, but I thought it might help you.” 

«It helps me to see that a young girl can be both 
martyr and hero. I know the old have reached the 
mortal limit. It is their time to die, — the natural 
time, the providential time, and such bereavements 
are not so hard to bear as when the young are taken. 
But, oh, the broken ties! No matter how late the 
hour of life, there must be the heart-ache over the 
missing presence, the love withdrawn ! 


172 THE ROMANCE OP THE NEW BETHESDA. 

is for such a little while, at the very longest, 
that we soon learn to look forward in a kind of happy 
expectancy to the time when we shall all be together 
again.^’ 

^^We are helped in our troubles by the thqught 
of fellowship of suffering. It is a valley of shadows 
through which all must pass. And then, recent litera* 
ture has made the unseen world so real to us. Miss 
Phelps has helped me wonderfully by her books.’^ 

“I see all her philosophy in the one book, Mrs. 
Kaynor, — the Bible. But you have not had the wise 
and patient teacher who has guided me. I believe he 
sees through the gates and knows the beyond. And 
his light is Christ, and the assurance of God’s love.” 

shall find more and more of divine revelation 
now that I have tasted a wider philosophy, and shall 
read the Bible with new hopes. Oh, the doors that 
open to us in life ! ” 

They reach the great city, and after seeing Miss 
Ingalls safely provided with a carriage, hasten to the 
Albany depot, and while the great train thunders on 
they try to sleep. The children have no difficulty in 
adjusting themselves to the strange order; but Mr. 
and Mrs. Kaynor cannot at once dismiss the thought 
that runs faster than , the train and questions of 
the watching stars how the strength holds out, and 
whether they shall be in time for recognition by the 
fading life. 

There are no delays, but the distance seems to have 
doubled since in the delight of happy anticipation 
they journeyed to the New Bethesda. But the good 
God was merciful. Grandma lived to greet her chil- 


CONFESSION. 


173 


dren and hear them tell of the flitting summer ; and 
when she passed on it was like falling asleep, so 
peaceful was the change. 

The family slipped quietly into the home grooves, 
the children were again poring over their books, and 
Maud, full of the purpose of a great hope, was still 
climbing the hill of learning ; but now the themes are 
life’s sacred and vital concerns, — the nebulous career 
a journey marked out and classified. 


174 THE ROMANCE OP THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER XYII. 

A WONDERFUL WEB. 

T he July heat had been intense in the Pennsyl- 
vania valleys, and something more than gratitude 
was tugging at the hearts of the Raynor family. A 
place in which to draw a full and refreshing inspiration 
seemed imperative. They were sitting at evening on 
the moonlit porch of their handsome home, discussing 
the situation. Alex had just gone away on his wed- 
ding journey, and the family had decided to pass the 
summer at home. A good deal of bustle and work 
had been caused' by the wedding, and they were in 
that state of weariness which makes home doubly 
restful. Then, the house had been for weeks like a 
hotel, and it was delightful to be able to see one an- 
other once more. But oh, how the sun glared by day, 
and the nights were sweltering ! Mrs. Raynor found 
herself very weary. It had been a strain on the 
heart-strings to give up her first-born to the keeping 
of another woman. He would come no more as of 
old, with his first thought for her ; and although 
she had given him into the care of a lovely girl whom 
he had known from babyhood, she had given him, and 
she felt the meaning of the change. She had kept all 
these things to herself, not parading her grief or 
her weariness, until now the hour seemed ripe for a 


A WONDERFUL WEB. 


175 


word of revelation, which a single remark from Mr. 
Eaynor drew forth. 

“The heat is so prolonged and intense, Katy, I 
think we shall have to go North for a while.” 

“I had hoped we could rest at home this year, 
Charles. We have had such a hotel in our own house 
that I need quiet.” 

“I think you need more than ever a change of 
scene, and rest from your housekeeping. You must 
be very tired, after all the flurry of Alex’s wedding.” 

“ Something ails me, Charles ; I think a good cry 
would do me good.” 

“ That reveals the strain your nerves have under- 
gone. I confess it has not been perfectly easy to me 
to face the fact of having Alex away from home.” 

Mrs. Raynor left the piazza and went into the 
parlor through a low open window, and had her needed 
tears alone. 

“ Mother does need rest and change. I never saw 
her so nervous before,” said Maud. 

“ You need a new outlook, too. What a serious, 
persistent work you have done since our summer at 
the New Bethesda! You have grown, my daughter.” 

“ I trust I have, in mind and spirit. There was no 
particular need of physical growth.” 

“ We all need change. It was unwise to decide on 
staying at home.” 

“ If you go away, you will let us go, won’t you, 
father ? ” said Willie. 

“Certainly. We will all go together.” 

“ I suppose there is only one place on the face of the 
earth where you will want to go, father. Can’t Rich 


176 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

and I go with the fellows to the Adirondacks ? We 
want to, awfully.’^ 

know you do; but I fear it will trouble your 
mother to have you go into camp with a party of 
young men/' 

Prof, is going, to look after them. He says there 
is no other vacation to be compared to camping out. 
Let us go, father." 

^^We will talk it over with your mother. Have 
you spoken to her?" 

‘‘Well, not much. She seemed so sorry to have 
Alex go off, we did not dare to." 

“It will be extra trouble to get you ready for 
camping." 

“We can buy everything. Fleischer keeps the 
whole rig, even to fishing-rods. And, father, they start 
on Monday." 

“ Have you made all arrangements for your summer 
journey ? " said Mrs. Pay nor, coming through the open 
window. She had evidently heard the conversation, 
despite her gush of tears. 

“ Oh no, mother. We never settle anything with- 
out you. But, mother, we do want to go to the 
Adirondacks." 

“Are you willing, Katy?" 

“ You will think it very strange if I give my con- 
sent, won't you, boys ? " 

“We'll think you are the loveliest mother on the 
face of the earth." 

“ If Professor Graham is to have the party in charge, 
perhaps I will let you go. A vacation is not good for 
much, unless we go where we wish to." 


A WONDERFUL WEB. 


177 


Why, Katy ! I never dreamed of your being will- 
ing to let the boys go/’ 

''Alex has gone. He has done what he liked. 
Richmond and Willie shall not be crossed,’^ said Mrs. 
Raynor. 

The boys gave three cheers, and were generally hila- 
rious over the easy conquest. They had not ex- 
pected the most persistent pleading to accomplish it. 

" We will all start on Monday,'’ said Mrs. Raynor. 

The tense nerves were relaxing, and she was ready 
to be taken care of. Indeed, she slept in a half-list- 
less way while Mr. Raynor and Maud got everything 
in readiness for the journey. The family travelled 
together through a good portion of the State of New 
York, and when the boys left for the train to the 
Adirondacks, Mrs. Raynor parted with them cheer- 
fully, as though they were going on a day's visit. She 
was not a woman to worry about her children or 
anticipate evil; but she wanted them near her, and 
had suffered the pain of sensible loss when they 
were absent. Mr. Raynor and Maud were jnade very 
watchful and anxious by her care-free manner in 
reference to the boys ; and particularly so when she 
•seemed quite willing to have Fred go with them. 
This, Mr. Raynor could not allow. A lad of eleven 
was quite too young for camp-life in the mountains. 
So Fred was in a state needing pacification, for he too 
had the camp fever in excess. When assured that he. 
should fish and hunt, and help the Spring boy dip 
water for the guests, and row on the lake, and ride to. 
Shaker Village, and perhaps attend the State Fair at 
Batesville, he began to appreciate the advantages of 
12 


178 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


the vicinity of the New Bethesda. And when he ob- 
served that his father and sister were very watchful 
of his mother, who slept much of the time, the thought 
of the camp grew less and less fascinating. There 
was little interest in the scenery along the way. 
Thought and care were centred within the small 
palace which bore them onward at mad speed. Mrs. 
Kaynor, when questioned as to her feelings, simply 
answered; Weary, oh, so weary ! and slept on. She 
did seem like her old self when she heard the famil- 
iar watchword, Kingdom Station ! ’’ and while they 
rode up in the coach, looked with interest at every- 
thing along the way. As they neared the Spring, and 
the music of the band wakened the echo, she said, “ It 
is just heavenly to be here.” The coach halted, and a 
lad of perhaps fourteen years brought them water. 
As they rode on, she said, — 

Did you notice him, Charles, — the boy who 
brought the water ? What dark eyes he had, and 
such a pale face ! His neck, too, was scarcely larger 
than a chicken’s. He must have been ill. Perhaps 
he came here for his health. He is no common 
water-boy,* I am sure.” 

’Squire Kaynor was glad of these signs of interest 
in the living present. Perhaps it was only weariness ; 
but he had feared his wife was on the verge of brain 
fever or some alarming illness. 

How the hotel has been enlarged ! ” all exclaim as 
they take in its new dimensions, Ellison Kossville 
had not forgotten them in the midst of his prosper- 
ous and absorbing business. He was the very first to 
extend the welcome of the new house. 


A WONDERFUL WEB. 


1T9 


A boy takes the hand-bags and conducts them to the 
elevator, where colored Dick serves with the courtesy 
of his race. They reach their rooms. 

Charles, did you oDserve the boy who brought up 
our things ? He looks like the one at the Spring, only 
healthier, — the same great dark eyes. They must be 
brothers.’’ 

Perhaps they are,” answers ’Squire Raynor, some- 
what abstractedly. 

How nice everything looks here ! I ’m glad we 
came. I ’m so tired ! ” And Mrs. Raynor goes to 
sleep, while the others run downstairs to examine the 
improvements. The office has been enlarged, while a 
commodious music hall furnishes room for the dancers 
and an ample space for all the entertainments and 
Sunday services. The Old Stage Tavern, too, has been 
improved, and the two hotels will now accommodate 
five hundred guests. They are full in every part, and 
so are the cottages. The Raynors encounter Dr. Ross- 
ville on his way to the Spring. 

Well, ’Squire, gratitude does not die easy, does it ? 
And so you ’ve come all the way from Pennsylvania 
again. Hope you got a room. We ’re as full as an egg. 
I ’ve got some good news ; Hugh is married. There ’s 
some hope for the Rossville name. Mary was married 
before you ever come here. Guess you never saw our 
Mary. She ’s here this summer ; but her children have 
some other name. Brought all your family, ’Squire ? ” 

Only four of us this time. My eldest son is mar- 
ried, too; and Richmond and Willie have gone* with 
the professor and fellows of the college to camp in 
the Adirondacks.” 


180 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Better camping here! It’s all talk about the Adi- 
rondacks. There ’s nothing there but common lake 
water and woods. You have the woods here, and the 
lakes, and water that will cure all the sick, and keep 
the well from getting sick. How ’s your wife ? ” 

“ She is very tired and sleepy.” 

She ’ll get rested. Just let her drink the water 
and sleep all she wants too, and she ’ll be as bright as 
new in a few days.” 

I suppose there are people here from every State 
in the Union, Doctor.” 

‘^Pretty much. There are folks here from Texas, 
and plenty of ’em from down South. And Pennsylva- 
nia beats all ! You must have told a pretty good story, 
^Squire. There are whole families here from your 
place.” 

The truth, in my case, made a good story.” 

And they believe you, if you are a lawyer.” 

“ Yes ; my Quaker blood can’t help being honest.” 

That minister you whittled canes with is here this 
year. He ’s been over the pond and got a little bil- 
ious, shook him up so. I can understand it when 
they come over here, but what a live Yankee wants to 
go to Europe for I can’t see. Ho water there fit to 
drink. That ’s what hurt Winters. He ’s temperance, 
and would n’t drink the stuff they bottle over there, 
but would drink water. He believes in water, and if 
he ’d stayed where he could get it pure he ’d never 
been sick again.” 

‘^Have any Europeans visited your Spring yet, 
Doctor ? ” 

Yes ; a lot of Englishmen over here last year, and 


A WONDERFUL WEB. 


181 


they fairly swarm down from Canada. You ’ll see ’em. 
Any quantity of trunks that have been over. They 
leave the marks. Even Winters left his, and his big 
bag is daubed all over with foreign stamps.” 

‘‘We learned three years ago that Winters has a 
wife. I hope she is with him. Mrs. Eaynor has a 
great curiosity to see her.” 

“ She ’s coming for a week or two. He’s been sick 
ever since spring, and sick off and on ever since he went 
to Europe. She ’s a great housekeeper, I guess. My 
Helen tells about what the folks say up there, and 
she is staying to take up carpets and clean house, — 
could n’t do it before, — then she ’s coming down. 
We ’re always glad to have her.” 

“ Then she has been here before ? ” 

“ Oh, yes, she comes, but she never stays long. 
Ellison makes it easy for ’em, but they say she likes 
quiet. Too many folks here for her to have a good 
rest.” 

During the conversation with Dr. Eossville, Maud 
has slipped down to the Old Stage Tavern to see Susie 
and Helen. The years have been passed in the best 
schools, and the young ladies are realizing their 
mother’s desire. Helen has grown tall, and is much like 
her mother in face and figure. She is a serene and quiet 
girl in her manners, while Susie has much more of the 
sparkle and gayety so common to young-ladyhood. 
But Helen has developed naturally. She was a quiet, 
even child, not given to excess of feeling or expression. 
Her dreamy eyes mark an introspective mind. She 
impresses Maud as having taken the lessons of life 
seriously, and with a high desire to profit by them. 


182 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

The young ladies could only pass a word of greeting, 
with promises to meet often, as Maud wished to return 
to her mother. She could not hide the little anxiety 
she felt for the unnatural condition of Mrs. Eaynor’s 
health. Susie and Helen were very sympathetic, and 
walked half-way to the New Bethesda House with 
their true friend. 

Maud found her mother dressed for tea, and seeming 
quite rested. As soon as she entered her mother’s room, 
Mrs. Eaynor asked her if she had noticed about the 
halls the boy who brought up their hand-bags. 

I am sure he is brother of the one at the Spring. 
And, Maud, I had to ring for warm water, and a boy 
came, — not the one who brought up our things, but 
another, with the same great, dark eyes. I believe 
there are three of them. I never saw just such eyes 
but once before, and somehow they haunt me. You 
have heard me tell about going to school at St. Stephen. 
There was a little girl in that school who had just 
such deep luminous eyes. We used to look after her 
in passing, and say something that would make her 
look up. She was the youngest girl in her class, and 
when composition day came she astonished pupils and 
teachers. She wrote verses that might have been 
Longfellow’s, they were so thoughtful and so perfectly 
finished. She wrote for the village paper even then, 
and we all thought she would make a great author. 
But I never heard a word from her after I left St. 
Stephen. I am curious about those boys. They have 
Arena Kemington’s eyes.” 

“Oh, mother! How can you remember eyes so 
many years ? ” 


A WONDERFUL WEB/ 


183 


‘^Ordinary eyes I could not; but her eyes were 
deep wells of thought. I have watched the papers 
and magazines, sure that I should see her name ; but 
I never have seen it.” 

“But, mother dear, there cannot possibly be any 
relation between the waiter-boys at the New Bethesda 
and your school-friend in that far-off State.” 

“ Why not ? We are here ; she may have come 
here. The railroad makes short work of travel.” 

“ Let us go down to supper. I passed father talk- 
ing with Mr. Winters on the piazza. He is all right, 
and will not need any fixing. You look radiant, 
mother. Is it the memory?” 

“ I feel as though I had touched an electric wire.” 

“What a sensitive mother you are!” said Maud, 
without the least faith in Mrs. Kaynor’s intuitions 
and comparisons. They descend to the, dining-hall, 
having met ^Squire Eaynor on the way. 

“ Pardon me, Katy, for leaving you so long. I met 
Mr. Winters, and we had so many things to talk 
about that time passed unheeded.” 

“ I did not need you, Charles. I have been weaving 
a wonderful web. Maud thinks it less tangible than 
a spider’s weaving ; but we shall see.” 

They are met at the entrance of the supper-room 
by a new face, and escorted to a table at the left of 
the door, where they can look down the hall and see 
the sparkling array. Mr. Winters is at the same 
table. The Raynors are alive with interest in the 
new arrangements, and especially the new faces. 

“ Who is the head waiter, Mr. Winters ? ” 

“ A young German, — a Divinity student.” 


184 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


the college is sending its men to serve the 
guests of the New Bethesda?’’ 

^^Yes, there are several college students here. It 
is quite a fashionable way for the student to pass his 
vacation. He can turn waiter at a summer hotel, have 
a good refreshing vacation, and earn something to help 
him through the next year.” 

The head waiter has a very refined face, Charles.” 

Yes, Katy. Years of European culture have gone 
to refine it. Look at him now, adjusting the chair for 
that bloated, red-faced man. Rather incongruous, is 
it not?” 

How can he wait on such people ? ” 

It is a good way to turn an honest penny. Genius 
and worth are nearly always poor. I suppose he has 
to make his own way through college.” 

What a pretty girl our waiter is ! And she looks 
refined, too.” 

Yes, Mrs. Raynor,” said Mr. Winters, the waiter- 
girls are many of them teachers or students. The New 
Bethesda is gaining a great name for the excellent care 
it takes of its help, and each year sees improvement 
in the class of servants. Young Gaston, the head 
waiter, is peer of the best of us, and some of these 
girls are as scholarly as the ladies they serve.” 

They linger in the pleasant supper-room until Mrs. 
Raynor fears she shall miss the entrancing colors of 
the sunset. 

“Let us go and look through the gates,” she said on 
rising ; and they repair to the piazza. The west is 
aglow with light, and all the clouds are tinted by the 
flame of the dying day. Like the halo of a saint in 


A WONDEKFUL WEB. 


185 


his passage through the fire are the splendors of the 
sunset from this mount of vision. As though he would 
gather all the glories of the day in one' shining quiver, 
to show how grand a thing it is to finish the race and 
pass on,* is the voice of the glowing west to these 
passionate lovers of Nature. Every hue is illuminated 
and intensified by the shafts of light which dart 
among the changing clouds, weaving new shapes and 
increasing the miracle glory. It is no strain of imagi- 
nation to see islands in a limitless molten sea, and 
volcanoes belching volumes of fiame. Ships under full 
sail of gold and crimson canvas plough the ocean of 
light. Processions of illuminated faces throng the 
horizon. The hills in shadowy outline reflect the sky. 
The lakes sparkle in their lowly fashion, asking only 
that they may mirror the wonders which bend above 
them. How small the ambitions and the employments 
which possess our little earth, when compared with 
the glory of the heavens, — the transfiguration of 
one single sunset hour ! Mt. Washington forty miles 
away, and the inviting observatory which crowns its 
height, as visible as the cottages along the winding 
road of the lake valley ! It is a wonderful scene ; and 
it rivets our attention many times and oft as we 
sojourn upon these favoring hills. 

“ Was there ever a more magnificent sunset ? ’’ said 
^Squire Eaynor, after watching in rapt awe until the 
illuminated clouds turned ashen, and the night had 
come. 

“ One must travel far to see its equal,^’ said Mr. 
Winters. Once among the Kocky Mountains I saw 
a wild and grand sunset. There had been a terrific 


186 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

storm of rain and wind which broke away just as the 
sun was going down. The massive clouds were illu- 
minated as though they were on fire, and no weird shape 
on earth but could be imagined flitting about the west- 
ern horizon. It was less placid than New Bethesda 
sunsets; more like a storm of shotted clouds or a 
charge of soldiery. There was swift and startling 
change among the fancied shapes most fascinating to 
the imagination. I have seen sunsets in the Old 
World, but am ready to aver that ours are grander. 
We have more frequently the presence of masses of 
shifting clouds, while there it is glaring brilliance.’’ 

I almost feel as though I had passed through those 
shining outer gates,” said Mrs. Eaynor. 

“ Oh, mother dear,” exclaimed Maud, “you have 
had too much scenery, and too little silence and rest ! 
You must come upstairs this very minute and Maud 
places her arm about her mother, that her vigorous 
strength may support the flagging energies. 

Mr. Kaynor withdraws from his friend and follows 
them. He would make the way for his wife like a 
garden-path bordered with flowers ; and now that she 
needs him he is doubly thoughtful. 


LIKE HER MOTHER. 


187 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

LIKE HER MO THE R. 

« T DON’T feel like rising, Charles,” said Mrs. Eay- 
X nor, as the morning light flooded her room and 
she saw her husband dressing for breakfast. 

<<Then I wouldn’t, Katy. Just lie and sleep all 
you wish to.” 

“I lost a good deal of sleep, Charles, thinking 
about Alex.” 

“ I know you did, and you worked too hard getting 
ready for the new housekeeping. Your breakfast shall 
be brought up, and you shall eat in bed, as the English 
do. Sleep until you feel like getting up, if it takes 
three weeks, Katy.” 

“ I feel as though it would take a year ; but I must 
not lose all this delightful opportunity in sleep.” 

Maud will see to everything, and the dear mother 
shall be utterly care-free.” 

One of the dark-eyed boys is set apart as Mrs. Ray- 
nor’s especial waiter. He answers her bell and carries 
up her meals, while Maud waits like a guardian angel 
to minister in all possible ways. They rouse her at 
meal-time, but for the rest of the day she sleeps on. 
Mr. Raynor examines her pulse and temperature, to be 
sure there is no lurking demon of sickness ; he watches 


188 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


her breathing awhile, and then finds his friend Win- 
ters, or some new guest to whom he can tell the story 
of the miracle Spring. He needs the open air, and 
there is no reason why the most devoted husband 
should count his wife’s respirations while quietly 
sleeping. Sometimes the expressive face of the boy 
brings to mind the web she wove on the night of her 
arrival, and visions of the little girl at St. Stephen 
mingle with her dreams. She looks at him intently 
when he brings anything to her room, but cannot force 
her lips to frame the question she secretly wishes to 
ask him. It is such a romantic dream that she dallies 
with it, half fearing a questioning word may shiver it 
to atoms. 


As Maud moves among the guests, those who have 
known her mother notice a striking resemblance. The 
girlish look has given place to mature thoughtfulness. 
Long years of study have made their indelible impress. 
While Mrs. Kaynor rests in her upper room, Mr. 
Eaynor finds himself counselling with his daughter as 
had been his habit with her mother, and confiding in 
her judgment more and more. She takes sole care of 
Fred ; though for that matter Fred makes her care 
easy by keeping away from restraint. He revels in 
the charm of the free wild life so dear to the heart 
of a boy. To wear old clothes, and stay in the woods 
or about the lakes, is heaven enough for him. 

Walking m the Music Hall one day arm in arm with 
her father, Maud observes Mr. Marshall at the piano. 
The music ceases, and they greet each other. 

'‘That year of waiting solved the problem, Miss 
Kaynor. I believe in the fullest opportunity to woman. 


LIKE HER MOTHER. 


189 


and that she is in the right place, in any place which 
she knows how to fill.’^ 

“I knew you would think yourself into the light, 
Mr. Marshall. Honest thought solves most of life’s 
problems.” 

‘‘We have both used the wrong term. Woman’s 
equality cannot strictly be classed as a problem. It 
is a self-evident truth.” 

“ And yet the time was, when this truth was not 
evident to you.” 

“Because my eyes were not opened. Thank you. 
Miss Raynor, for making me look the truth in the 
face. With me, seeing was believing.” 

“ I am glad to hear your confession. There are be- 
lievers who hide the truth under a bushel. I know 
men who believe that our colleges ought to be open to 
women, and yet who are . not ready to act as they 
think. Some fear of the results of change, some 
flimsy web of policy, entangles and slays their right- 
eous conviction. You are more conservative here in 
Hew England than anywhere else. Our home college 
is administered on the broadest principles. The West 
is progressive. You cannot crowd its expansive life 
into the shell of yesterday.” 

“Hew England moves slowly but surely. Harvard 
has made an advance which means co-education in the 
near future, and the younger colleges will fall into 
line.” 

“ How much nobler for the younger colleges to lead. 
They have no gray customs to bow down to. The 
widest present thought should mould the life of to- 
day in education and in politics.” 


190 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

And in religion too, Miss Kaynor. Andover makes 
a sorry spectacle, fighting the battle of conservatism/^ 

You think so, Mr. Marshall ? ’’ 

“,How can a mind open to the light think other- 
wise 

Confession is good for the soul.” 

Miss Kaynor turns away to join her father. He. is 
talking with a group of Canadians who have come 
to the New Bethesda, as the halt and maimed visited 
the Bethesda of Palestine. They are waiting for the 
troubling of the waters, and some strong hand of en- 
couragement and help. This they find in ’Squire Kay- 
nor, and as corroboration of his statements he calls 
Mr. Winters. 

“ You are not a well man, Mr. Winters,” said Mr. 
Flagg, one of the group. 

“ That is true. But the malady healed by the Spring 
has never returned. I spent a summer in Europe, and 
tried to see and take note of everything in a short- 
space of time. In fact, I worked myself to death in 
sight-seeing ; and with excessive weariness, and Kome 
in midsummer, I am a good deal broken. But I had 
uninterrupted health after my first visit here until 
this attack of malaria.” 

“ The water ought to cure your malaria.” 

It will, Mr. Flagg. I am gaining in strength daily.” 

‘^The old Doctor says it cures everything. He 
claims so much for it that I am losing faith.” 

“ Don ’t lose faith, with living witnesses all about 
you. This great hotel crowded in every part is a liv- 
ing witness to the value of the Spring. All who come 
here are benefited. My wife is toned up at once on 


I.IKE HER MOTHER. 


191 


coming here. The water is like wine to her in its 
exhilaration.” 

It is a most delightful summer resort, I acknowl- 
edge. The extended view is worth something to men 
cramped in small city offices ten months of the year. 
And then, we have a jolly company. They don^t look 
or act like invalids.” 

Some of them look pretty solemn when they ar- 
rive ; but the sky changes and clears perceptibly in a 
day or two.” 

“ I like the young landlord. He seems to look 
upon us all as his family, whom he is in duty bound 
to make as happy as possible.” 

Maud was sitting in her mother’s room. Several 
days of the opportune summer had already passed to 
Mrs. Hay nor in a semi-oblivion ; but she was begin- 
ning to come to herself, and take interest in the little 
incidents transpiring around her. 

You will be able to go downstairs to-night to the 
surprise party, will you not, mother dear ? It will be 
great sport to surprise the English lions. Mr. Win- 
ters has it all planned ; and, mother, Mrs. Winters is 
coming to-day.” 

Mrs. E-aynor visibly brightened. Mrs. Winters had 
been a myth heretofore. She was interested in see- 
ing her clothed in flesh and blood. 

Yes, Maud, I will make an effort to go down. I 
don’t care about the surprise party, but I do want to 
see Mrs. Winters.” 

You may not see her. Susie says sometimes she 
keeps her room for days together, and is not seen 
except in her early and late walks to the Spring.” 


192 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

I suppose she comes here weary, as I did this sum- 
mer, and stays alone until she gets rested.’’ 

Mrs. Kaynor dressed, and was ready for the surprise 
party, but she did not see Mrs. Winters that night. 
Mrs. Lincoln, the housekeeper, assured her that the 
minister ’s wife had arrived, but would not leave her 
room. Yes, she was weary. She was always weary ; 
but the New Bethesda acted like a tonic. She would 
be visible perhaps to-morrow. 

The guests gathered in the Music Hall, and when 
all was ready the Canadian party were ushered in. 
Mr. Winters received them with a speech of welcome 
in which he recognized the amity between the two 
great English-speaking nations, and hoped it might 
last forever. Mr. Elagg responded right heartily, and 
there were speeches from others. Music followed, and 
some one called for God save the Queen ! ” 

Do not,” said Mr. Winters in assumed gravity, 
“embarrass our English friends by asking for their 
national ode. I never yet met a subject of the Queen 
who could sing it. I was once on the St. Lawrence 
with a regiment of British soldiers, and they could 
not get through the first verse. Again, on returning 
from Europe we were making merry with song and 
story, and there was a clamor for ^ God save the 
Queen ! ’ I tried to quell it before anybody was 
humiliated, but did not succeed. One brilliant Eng- 
lish lady took her seat at the piano and started off 
bravely on the first verse, but failed before she got 
through it, nor could she recall a line of the other 
verses except the refrain, “ God save the Queen ! ’ ” 

“ There is a reason for that, most reverend Ameri- 


LIKE HER MOTHER. 


193 


caD,” said Mr. Flagg, in the same gay humor of the 
minister. The ode is execrable poetry and contempt- 
ible sentiment, and none of us know it, because we 
will not waste time in committing the hateful stuff. 
We love and honor our Queen, but we want to express 
it in decent English.” 

Then there was a shout of applause, and all the com- 
pany sang “ America,” the Canadians joining in good 
round voices and making no mistakes in the text. 
The evening was a merry one, and the Canadians 
were more and more impressed by the good-humor of 
the guests at the New Bethesda. In passing out of 
the hall. Dr. Kossville, who seldom attended the even- 
ing entertainments, said : — 

There ’s no difference, Mr. Flagg. We might as 
well forget about the wars, and think we are all one. 
If I was you I ’d drop ‘ God save the Queen,’ and pre- 
tend that America ” was my national ode. You all 
know that. — Why, here ’s Mrs. Kaynor. Got rested ? 
I Ve been wanting to see ye. You remember Sicily ? 
She ’s married. We sha ’n’t have her here any more. 
I believe Ellison is bound to live an old bachelor.” 

“ Our boys have to choose for themselves. Doctor. 
Strangely enough, they never marry the girls we pick 
out for. them.” 

If they ’ll get married, all right. But living 
single in this country, where there are three or four 
women to one man, is a sin; yes, I call it a down- 
right sin ! ” 

There are a good many sinners, then, and they are 
increasing. The extravagant habits of the time are a 
terror to the young man thinking of matrimony. He 
13 


194 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

must begin at the top of the ladder. Girls expect an 
elegant home and'one servant at least to begin with.’^ 

“ Sicily knows how to work. Her mother brought 
her up right. She ’s married a farmer, and of course 
she ’ll have to work. No girls, unless they ’re needed. 
There ’s no excuse for my boys. They can afford to 
live in style. There ’s a fortune coming right out of 
the ground for them. I liked Sicily. She was always 
pleasant.” 

The Canadian party moved to the piazza for a prom- 
enade, in which many of the guests joined. There 
was brilliant moonlight, and all the witchery of flitting 
shadows so charming on a summer night. Crickets 
had begun to prophesy of the coming autumn, and a 
dreamy undertone mingled with their myriad voices. 
All the meadow stretching down to the Old Stage 
Tavern seemed full of them. 

^'It is a lonesome ..sound, always,” said Mrs. 
Eaynor. ■ • 

^^The crickets are not very lonesome, Katy. I 
should say they were about a million strong, by the 
sound of their piping.” ^ 

“They tell us of autumn winds and closed doors, 
and all the storm and gloom of winter.” 

“ And of all the snug comfort too : the open fires, 
the warm carpets, apples roasting on the hearth, nut- 
cracking, and the long evenings for reading. There 
are no lonesome sounds, Katy, when we are all well 
and have love and home.” 

“ Oh, Charles, how you help me ! When I get rested 
there will be no lonesome sounds. I shall forget the 
crickets. But truly, Charles, ever since I was a child 


LIKE HER MOTHER. 


195 


the first appearance of the crickets has made me sad. 
I wonder if I could walk down to the Spring ? ” 

Of course you can, with my strong arm to lean 
on. Would you like to have Maud on the other side ? 
Where is she ? ’’ 

“ I saw her walking with Mr. Marshall. Don’t call 
her. Young ladies need some liberty. Maud has con- 
fined herself to me very closely.” 

I wish she would not give her time to Mr. Mar- 
shall.” 

^‘How selfish, Charles! He is interesting, and 
Maud likes to converse with him.” 

heard him tell her he was on her side of the 
woman question, — reached it alone, without letters 
from her.” 

^^Then they will not lose temper in argument.” 

’m afraid they will think too nearly alike.” 

^^You don’t seem to like Mr. Marshall.” 

<^Mr. Marshall is well enough. I suppose I shall 
not like anybody who tries to come between me and 
my daughter.” 

Their fellowship is purely intellectual. It could 
be nothing else between Maud and Mr. Marshall.” 

“And yet, I remember you were quite concerned 
about Maud’s heart when she was thrown into Mr. 
Hammond’s society by the little play they learned 
together, Katy.” 

“ She was younger then ; and Mr. Hammond was 
just the man to attract a young girl.” 

“ Is that Mr. Winters, just ahead ? ” 

“It looks like his figure. He is carrying some- 
body’s ‘Moses,’ as usual.” 


196 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


“It is very kind of him. He must be bored by 
these women who make such a constant demand upon 
his services.” 

“ I presume he likes it. Perhaps that is his wife, 
— almost as tall as he is.” 

“ If it is, Katy, let us not disturb them. She did 
not appear at supper, and of course wants to keep 
away from people to-night.” 

“ I am dying to see her, Charles. What do you 
suppose she is like ? ” 

“An unassuming domestic wife, from all I can 
gather.” 

“ Just a common woman ? Winters is quite elegant, 
and they say he is a very successful minister, — that 
he does not move from place to place, but has cov- 
ered nearly his whole public service by two city 
pastorates.” 

“Ministers often have inferior wives. I mean, 
women who do not keep up with their intellectual 
advancement. I suppose it is because they do not go 
courting like other men, but marry the first girl who 
smiles on them.” 

“ Perhaps it is because they marry young, — ‘ mate 
before they matriculate,’ as Maud says. I shall be 
sorry if Winters’s wife is not his equal.” 

They sit awhile under the balcony and hear the 
musical jingle of glasses and bottles as the pilgrims 
refresh themselves and prepare for any possible thirst 
on a hot August night. There is low laughter, and 
Mrs. Kay nor hears Mr. Winters say, “ Take another 
glass, Cornelia.” 

“It is Mrs. Winters, Charles!” she whispers; and 


LIKE HER MOTHER. 197 

then listens for Cornelia’s voice to answer, ‘‘Yes, 
Eaynold, give me another. I shall take three.” 

“ How do you know his wife’s name is Cornelia ? ” 

“ Whom else would he call Cornelia ? I know Mr. 
Winters as well as anybody here, and he does not call 
me Kate, or Catharine.” 

“ Yes, it must be his wife. She is not afraid of the 
water, evidently.” 

They linger by the Spring, taking their glasses 
slowly, with little gurgles of musical laughter now 
and then, and presently pass out, almost brushing 
Mrs. Kaynor’s dress, as she sits near the door; but 
doubtless supposing strangers wait their turn, they 
pass on. 

“ I like her voice, Charles ; there is character in it.” 

“ There is certainly decision in it. Such voices can 
lay down the law, Katy.” 

“ They generally belong to women capable of laying 
down the law.” 

“ They went off in a clinging way, like a pair of 
lovers.” 


198 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

REPEATED VISIONS. 

M rs. RAYNOR’S watch for Mrs. Winters at 
the breakfast-table was doomed to disappoint- 
ment. She was seated early and lingered long, but 
neither the minister nor his wife appeared. And then 
she walked awhile on the piazza, hoping to encounter 
the new arrival ; but all in vain. Finding her strength 
largely restored, and remembering that she had not 
seen Mrs. Rossville since she came, she walked down 
to the Old Stage Tavern. The Doctor met her at the 
door. He was about to take his morning walk to the 
New Bethesda. 

“I guess it did you good to sleep. You look rested. 
Come in ; my Mary is in the parlor. You never saw 
my Mary;” and Dr. Rossville with evident pride 
introduced a young matron to his friend from Penn- 
sylvania. Little children were clinging to her, but 
there were no lines of care or annoyance on her face. 
“A wonderfully calm and sweet face,” was Mrs. 
Raynor’s mental comment. A pleasant light played 
over it in conversation, and as they talked for a few 
moments Mrs. Raynor felt the charm, and gladly sub- 
mitted to the irresistible spell. She had been think- 
ing of the minister’s wife and longing to meet her ; 
and now a woman fit for any sphere had dawned upon 


REPEATED VISIONS. 


199 


her unexpectedly. Oh, if Mr. Winters’s wife should 
only prove to be as sweet and gracious ! As this 
thought crossed her mind she almost feared to meet 
the woman whom she had heard named Cornelia by 
the rim of the miracle Spring. 

Mrs. Rossville leaves her cares and is willing to 
fold her hands awhile and talk of other days. As she 
greets Mrs. Eaynor, her daughter finds that the 
morning caller whom she had thought of only as one 
of the many guests at the New Bethesda House is 
the lady her mother has talked of so often as one 
who had captured her heart. The times come back 
in swift review, when there was no coach and four, 
and when the twenty guests at the Old Stage Tavern 
drove to the Spring in the one-horse wagon and drank 
from the tin pint. 

“ They were fine old times, Mrs. Eossville, as full 
again of romance as these times. Oh, the rides behind 
the oxen, and the smell of the new-mown hay ! ” 

And we had a living romance here too at that 
time, — a pair of lovers.” 

“ Yes, and as happy as Adam and Eve in the Garden, 
until the serpent came. Have you heard anything 
from Miss Ingalls since she was here three years ago, 
Mrs. Eossville ? ” 

Hugh was told by some one supposed to know, that 
she had gone to California.” 

^‘That means she is married to Eobert Nick- 
erson.” 

We did not hear that she was married. She was 
a beautiful girl, Mary, and he seemed a superior 
youug man. But he must have had a weak side to 


200 THE EOMAKCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

him, to pay so much attention to that little Minnie 
Swan/’ 

It was a kind of family entanglement, brought 
about by the lawsuit. Poor Nickerson suffered enough 
because of it.” 

I am glad if he did. He deserved to suffer. But 
how do you know, Mrs. Paynor ? ” 

Miss Ingalls had a letter from him which was full 
of the bitterest remorse. He asked her pardon too, 
and the way was open for a reconciliation. Ger- 
trude’s only fear was that this weakness might follow 
him after marriage, when any such defection would be 
a million-fold more humiliating.” 

She has grounds . for such a fear. Open-hearted 
and reliable men are so from early life. They neither 
wound sweetheart nor wife.” 

“ I was quite sure Miss Ingalls would marry Robert. 
She loved him notwithstanding all his seeming faith- 
lessness. I don’t know whether she had will enough 
to resist the sway of her affections after receiving his 
pleading letter.” 

Susie and Helen have had some good visits with 
your daughter, Mrs. Eaynor. Oh, I hope she won’t 
have such heart-aches as poor Miss Ingalls suffered. 
Attractive girls are in great peril. I am glad to hear 
of the good work she has prepared herself to do.” 

Yes ; Maud thinks only of her books and her mis- 
sion. She has never received attentions from gentle- 
men. She takes her own straightforward way, and 
does not invite attentions.” 

Will she settle as a pastor ? ” 

“ Oh, yes ; she is already invited to a pleasant little 


EEPEATED VISIONS. 


201 


parish in a lovely town quite near home, and begins 
her work in October.’’ 

How you will miss her ! ” 

Yes ; parting with Alex almost broke my heart. 
Maud is my only daughter. But she inspires me 
with her enthusiasm for her work, and in that way 
I shall find strength to bear the separation. It is 
sacred work, and all my heart goes out with her into 
it. I wish I too were young, and could see such a 
career opening before me.” 

Can you say that, and you such a happy wife and 
mother ? ” 

“I should want Charley and the children with 
me !” 

Ah, there it is,” said Mary Hart. Woman yearns 
for ^ Charley and the children.’ Her noblest career is 
in these natural relations.” 

“ You are quite right. There is no higher calling 
than motherhood ; no nobler career than to be the 
true guardian of a home ; but there are religious natures 
who are taken quite out of the ordinary grooves by 
some great awakening light, and who desire with an 
intensity almost superhuman to disseminate that light. 
I am glad my daughter can be voice for me.” 

Just then Fred came running in, asking for his 
mother. 

Father says you can have just the loveliest ride, 
if you wish to. Will you go, mother ? Say yes, 
because he said I might go too.” 

“ Yes ; I think I should like to ride this beautiful 
morning.” 

Hurrah ! ” said Fred, as he turned to run back 


202 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


with his mother’s consent. Mrs. Eaynor followed at 
once. As she reached the piazza of the New Bethesda^ 
she saw Flint, the dark-eyed boy who had cared for 
her many needs during the sleepy days, talking with 
a tall lady in a very familiar way. 

In passing she heard him say, ^^No, Aunty, I do not 
mind it at all. Some of the people are rather impe- 
rious and exacting ; but I am here to serve them, and 
I mean to fill the bill.” 

Mrs. Eaynor felt her heart bound with electric 
throbs. “ His aunt. Who is his aunt ? Why, it 
must be Mrs. Winters. Yes, that is the very figure 
Mr. Winters called Cornelia ; and Charles said Win- 
ters was a Pennsylvanian. Oh, it is no dream ! ” 

“ Come, Mrs. Eaynor ; the horse is restive.” 

Charles, I don’t wish to go.” 

“ Fred said you did wish to go, and I had the team 
in readiness.” 

“ I did ; but, Charles, I am as weak as a child.” 

It will do you good, Katy. You have tasted the 
summer air measured by your open window, and need 
a good full feast of it.” 

She climbs into the carriage in an abstracted way, 
and Fred is tucked between them. They drive off. 
Flint Wentworth is still talking with the woman whom 
he called Aunty. Mrs. Eaynor glances at them and 
obtains a half view of the lady’s face under her droop- 
ing black hat. She notices that her garments are 
black, unrelieved by any color. It is not a hand- 
some face, — not a face one would look after a second 
time, unless some association, as in the present in- 
stance, awakened interest. 


REPEATED VISIONS. 


203 


Come, Katj, you must enjoy this breezy morning 
behind Mr. Eossville’s new horse. See, he has granted 
me the honor of driving him first. Is n’t that a light 
step ? Perfect beauty, I call him. He ’ll take us 
over the hills like the wind.” 

Yes, Charles *, but I have had such a thrill.” 

“ That is good. Thrills help the blood to cir- 
culate.” 

I must know all about it.” 

All about what, Katy ? ” 

^^My romance. You know I spoke to you about 
those dark-eyed boys. Well, to-day I saw Plint talking 
with a tall lady that I am just sure was the minister’s 
wife, and as I passed them he called her Aunty. I 
knew they were no common servants.” 

‘‘ Winters says there are college students here, and 
that it is a common thing for them to pass their vaca- 
tions as hotel waiters. Perhaps these boys are among 
them.” 

Has Mr. Winters told you anything about these 
boys ? ” 

No. I have seen him talking with them ; but 
he talks with the help as kindly as he would talk with 
Ellison Rossville himself. Winters belongs to the 
Church of the Ancient Brotherhood, and lives his 
religion.” 

Mother, I heard the Spring boy call Mr. Winters 
Uncle, and I ’ve seen them talking lots, when Ealph 
was n’t busy,” said Fred. 

^^And you are sure Mr. Winters is a Pennsyl- 
vanian ? ” ‘ 

Told me so himself. He has walked the streets of 


204 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Meadowville as familiarly as we have ; lived only 
a dozen miles away.’^ 

There ^s a chain binding all events, Charley, and I 
shall find out all about it.’’ 

“ All about what, you mysterious dreamer ? ” 

I have told you about Arena Kemington, the little 
girl at St. Stephen who had the most wonderful eyes 
I ever saw. Well, these boys keep me thinking of her, 
as though there were some secret wire connecting all 
our hearts. Their eyes are not so glorious as hers, 
though Flint’s are nearly like them ; but they have 
a shade, a quality, a glance — what shall I call it, 
Charles ? — like hers ; and I believe she is the mother 
of those boys.” 

'' I hope she is, Katy. They are nice boys, and I 
know you thought her quite a wonder. Not only her 
eyes but her mind attracted you.” 

If I could meet her among these hills ! — well, it 
would be almost too much for mortal strength to bear. 
There seemed something sacred about her. It may 
have been her poetic nature; but she affected me 
strangely, as though not altogether of this world.” 

^^You were always an idealist, Katy. You discern 
the wings where ordinary people would only see a 
worm.” 

''Arena Kemington had wings, Charles, and they 
were scarcely hidden.” 

"Yes, I know. The poems you showed me were 
quite above common school compositions. It is strange 
we never encountered her in the magazines, when she 
had such unusual power. Do you know whether she 
had a sister ? ” 


REPEATED VISIONS. 


205 


“She was very shy and reticent, never speaking of* 
her family ; but one day we were all in a state of re- 
bellion over Miss FarwelPs new rule about recess, and 
Arena said her sister gave the largest liberty to young 
ladies out of school-hours, and she had never had it 
abused. So we all knew she had a sister who was a 
school-teacher.’’ 

“Well, Katy, you really have a slender thread to 
hang your romance on. Forget your battery of thrills 
awhile now, and take in this view. Did you ever see 
a grander succession of hill and vale even among the 
Alleghanies ? The outlook is broader here, not shut 
in by such gigantic forests. What diminutive things 
these trees are compared with the growths of old 
Pennsylvania ! But I suppose this is not any of it 
primeval forest. It is a kind of second growth, or 
perhaps third or fourth growth; we don’t knowhow 
many times clearings have been made here and aban- 
doned to the wild beasts. How the lakes sparkle in 
the shadow of these hills ! Diamonds, Katy, under the 
shadow of my lady’s eyes.” 

“That is a diminutive comparison, Charles. The 
lesser to the greater is the rule.” 

“ISTot always followed, even by poets. You remem- 
ber Longfellow’s comparison of the moon’s reflec- 
tion to ^ a golden goblet falling and sinking into the 
sea’?” 

“Yes; and I remember it as a fault in my beloved 
Longfellow’s verse. The lakes, Charley, are grander 
than all the diamonds in the world.” 

“But these hills, Katy, are not grander than my 
lady’s eyes. My comparison is not a failure ! Is n’t 


206 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

this horse a superb trotter, — almost as good as our 
Fanchon? You look better already, Katy. I wanted 
to take Maud, but there were a fairy chair and wood- 
land readings to claim her. She has wonderfully good 
times with Susie and Helen. Somebody will break 
his heart over Helen. She is growing very statu- 
esque and handsome.’^ 

She has a very sweet disposition, which is better 
than personal beauty.” 

The disposition is a thing of doubtful quality. It 
must be tried to be proved. When the sweet girl 
makes a serene and even-tempered wife and mother, 
then we can decide on the quality of the disposition.” 

^‘Is your remark equally true when applied to 
amiable young men?” 

Certainly. We are to grow in grace, as the Bible 
says, — grow better and stronger under the stress 
and strain of life. That is the only true development, 
the only sign of real character. Anybody can smile 
when all the winds and tides are in his favor. It 
takes a sterling man to hold himself in the upper air 
of composure when the buffetings come. It is a big 
battle, but a grand victory, to rule one’s own spirit. 
Shall we turn homeward ? You must not get too 
weary.” 

^‘Yes, Charles. It has been a very full morning, 
and if I sleep awhile before dinner I shall be surer 
of myself,” 

^^If all the world were as even-tempered as you 
are, Katy, there would be a good many more happy 
homes ! ” 

“If we were made without nerves, Charley, to get 


REPEATED VISIONS. 207 

tired and sore ! — Oh, I wish Alex had lived single five 
years longer ! 

They sped swiftly over the hills, and Mrs. Eaynor 
had time for her nap, while the ’Squire sat in a shady 
corner of the piazza. Looking up from the paper he 
was dreamily reading, a pale face met his eyes and 
held his attention. There were no invalids about the 
New Bethesda who carried such a look of extreme weak- 
ness and exhaustion. “ That man has come too late,” 
he says ; and leaving his corner he goes to encourage 
him by the story of his own restoration. 

^‘1 have not a particle of faith,” says Mr. Cutter. 
^‘1 came because I was fairly forced to come by my 
wife, who believes her minister knows everything. 
He was cured here, and he is eternally telling of it ; 
but he never was as sick as I am, or water would not 
have saved him.” 

Fearfully sick men have been saved by coming 
here, — men whom the doctor had given up to die.” 

‘Ht is not reasonable that spring water can cure 
such a case as mine. Dr. Kossville has just been 
telling me about Mayor Somebody who was given 
up to die before election day, and that less than two 
months off, and he got well by staying here a few 
weeks and gulping water by the quart. It is not 
reasonable.” 

My friend, you must save your condemnation until 
the water has really failed in your case. It will 
help you, and it has cured the very worst cases. If 
it cures you there will be another advocate equal to 
Mr. Winters and myself.” 

^^You know Winters? He’s my wife’s minister, 


208 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


and between them they brought me out of my com- 
fortable home to die on these rocks.” 

“You are not going to die. Can you walk as far as 
the Spring ? ” 

“No. I can hardly stagger the length of this piazza. 
But I have the water ; Dr. Bossville has given me 
^ Moses ’ and a glass, and told me just how much to 
take. I shall take it out of sheer desperation.” 

“ If you follow his directions you will be a new man 
in a week, Mr. Cutter.” 

“ About as well expect a dead tree to sprout,” said 
Mr. Cutter, as ’Squire Baynor moved away, remem- 
bering that it was time for his own walk down the 
fourteen hundred planks. 

The guests were coming in from different directions, 
with appetites stimulated by exercise on these breezy 
hills. Each had followed his whim, and there was 
ample space for individual preference. If the sun 
shone too hotly, the croquet-ground under the pines 
was shady enough, and the aroma of the trees like 
elixir while the game went on. The lazy had hugged 
their hammocks, Croesus had driven his span, romantic 
girls had dallied with the evergreens of the long path, 
the musician had tortured the piano; and all these 
differing tastes had one taste in common, which the 
head waiter and his retinue of pretty girls well under- 
stood. 


THE DREAM REVEALED. 


209 


CHAPTER XX. 

THE DREAM REVEALED. 

WINTERS does not look at all like 
IVX Arena Remington, and yet she suggests 
her in some ways,” said Mrs. Raynor. I must ask her 
to come to my room and tell me everything. She has 
no such eyes as the little girl we all adored at St. 
Stephen ; and then she is tall, and Arena was small 
and slight. Her face bears the marks of great sorrows, 
though it lights up when she speaks. I want to 
know, and yet I am afraid to invite the possible 
destruction of my dream.” 

Come downstairs, Katy, and cheer up poor Mrs. 
Cutter. I have been talking with her, and she is sure 
her husband will die. She is a parishioner of Mr. 
Winters, and he asked me to do what I could for them 
both.” 

There, Charles, Mrs. Winters is talking with the 
other boy, — Paul, they call him.” 

Oh, yes ; I have seen her waylay them on the 
stairs, or anywhere, and say something to them. She 
is evidently very much interested in them. The 
housekeeper says they are very nice boys.” 

fear I cannot get interested in Mrs. Cutter, 
Charles.” 

^^Of course you can. I never knew you fail to 
become interested in a person who needed you. The 
14 


210 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Cutters have just come, and Mr. Cutter is in a bad way. 
His wife has reason to fear. Oh, Dr. Kossville is talk- 
ing with them. He will brace them up more than we 
can. Come out to the hammock a little while.’’ 

They enter the shadow of the pines. Presently Mr. 
and Mrs. Winters come toward them, as though they 
had some purpose, which is soon made known, for Mr. 
Winters says, — 

“ ’Squire Kaynor, Dr. Kossville sends me after you. 
He has a stubborn infidel in Mr. Cutter. Will you 
come and help us inspire hini with a little faith and 
courage? Our wives can take this time to become 
better acquainted.” 

Mrs. Winters and Mrs. Kaynor are soon seated in 
the same hammock, and, strangely enough, Kate is 
trembling in every nerve. 

‘‘My husband tells me you are Pennsylvanians,” 
says Mrs. Winters. “I feel a clannish interest in 
people from the dear old Keystone, and know we 
shall become acquainted at once.” 

“ Yes, we are natives ; and 1 have almost the same 
feeling of kinship for those who hail from the land 
of my love.” 

“I am not an original Pennsylvanian. I was born 
in Hew York, but removed to Pennsylvania when a 
mere child, and it almost seems native land to me. 
All my school-days were passed there, and the ro- 
mances of youth were woven under her giant trees.” 

“Why did you come so far away ? Your home is 
in Kew England ? ” 

“A minister has the fortune to make great changes. 
Mr. Winters came East to visit an old friend; preached 
a Sunday or two to eke out his travelling expenses. 


THE DEEAM EEVEALED. 211 

and as a sequel settled here. It is like coming back 
to my birthright. My parents were New Englanders, 
but Mr. Winters’s family are genuine Pennsylvanians.” 

Maud came running to her mother like a little girl, 
to ask if she might drive to Batesville with a party 
of young people, and take Fred too. It will keep 
him out of mischief, mother.' Susie and Helen are 
going, and Mr. Ellison Eossville has promised to drive 
for us.” 

^^The ride is so safely planned, my daughter, I 
think you can go. Yes, and take Fred too.” 

“How delightful to have such a daughter!” said 
Mrs. Winters. 

“ Have you children, Mrs. Winters ? ” 

“ I have none of my very own ; but I believe my 
sister’s children come into my heart almost the same 
as though they were really mine. She and I were 
more closely united than most sisters. We thought 
alike, and never had any disputes. And then she 
seemed to me almost sacred, — not quite like other 
women, — and I felt a motherly tenderness for her, 
and it increased with each new life given to her care. 
Her children are really my children.” 

“ I heard one of the boys here call you Aunty.” 

“They are her boys. There are three of them 
here.” 

Mrs.. Winters’s eyes were full of tears, and Mrs. 
Eaynor knew some great sorrow was tugging at her 
heart, but she could no longer keep silent. 

“These boys,” said she, “affect me strangely. 
When I first saw the one at the Spring, and then one 
after the other the two came to my room, they sug- 


212 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

gested one whom I knew in my youth. Their eyes 
are like hers. I have been weak and trembling just 
looking at them and thinking of my schoolmate at 
St. Stephen.’^ 

“ St. Stephen ! Arena went to school at St. Stephen. 
Is it possible you knew my sister ? ” 

^‘1 knew Arena Remington, and I would give the 
world to see her once more. We almost adored her. 
She was away beyond us all in her thought. And 
such a poet ! and she was not sixteen years old.^’ 

^‘Yes, Mrs. Raynor, we shall have to ‘give the 
world ^ — the latest failing breath of this world — 
before we can see her. She crossed the river more 
than two years ago. Life has never been the same to 
me since she went away. But tell me, — I heard Mr. 
Raynor call you Katy, — are you the Kate Shippen 
who made the little parties for the strange girls, and 
were so kind to them ? Oh, many a time Arena has 
told me how you helped to make the school a great 
happy home.” 

“ Then she remembered and spoke of me ? I 
would rather have her remembrance than all the 
honors of St. Stephen. And I can see her only in 
these boys ? ” 

“ She left a daughter, who is coming for a few days. 
She is very young, and the housekeeping cares fall 
heavily upon her. She needs rest in change.” 

“ Three boys and a daughter left motherless ? ” 

“Oh, Mrs. Raynor, there are six boys, — two of 
them scarcely more than babies when she left them ; 
the eldest a freshman in college.” 

“I seem to be dreaming. I thought her children 


THE DREAM REVEALED. 


213 


would be children of the brain. What a noble record 
of motherhood ! ’’ 

^^She laid aside her pen entirely when she was 
married, and gave her whole life to her family. She 
never took a vacation save the few days when she 
would come with her babies to my home. I never 
saw so devoted a mother.” 

‘'Arena Eemington was known at St. Stephen as a 
personified conscience. She never thought of herself 
even then, but of some backward girl whom she could 
help.” 

“ How it brings in review her life, to meet one who 
knew her in her happy girlhood ! It was a short life, 
but oh, so full ! She seemed a prophet as well as poet ; 
but all poets are in a sense prophets. I remember a 
little poem in which she sketched her own history. It 
was written as far back as the years at St. Stephen, 
when she had no thought of going to the sea-shore for 
a home,— written long before we settled in Oldport. 
The closing lines have rung in my ears like sad bells 
jangling out of tune since she left us. Did you ever 
see them ? — 

‘ In the dusk light of a house by the sea, 

Now she is dying, poor Anne Marie ! ’ ” 

“ I have the poem, Mrs. Winters. She read it at a 
little exhibition, when all the happy village was there 
to listen.” 

“ You lived in her world, Mrs. Raynor, and appre- 
ciated her. It is a comfort to know this.” 

“ How strange and unreal it all seems ! Tell me 
something to make this revelation less a dream. Did 
she visit you, and in that way come to settle by the 


214 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


sea ? She loved the woodland ways of dear Pennsyl- 
vania, I know. Never a ramble in the forests but she 
was ready to join us.” 

^‘Yes; she came to make my home less lonely. I 
had left all my family, and everything was strange to 
me. Even the trees and the roofs of the houses were 
unlike those at the old home. It was a great work 
that we had undertaken, and our parents spared Arena 
to keep us in heart. She met in Oldport her future 
husband. Five years after our settlement there they 
were married.” 

“ And so soon the history of her life is written ! ” 

“Yes; she had been married but nineteen years. 
She had great joy in her family. If she could have 
seen her children grown to maturity and taking 
their places in the world, her joy would have been 
more and greater. They honor her name, and I trust 
will be true helpers in the world’s good work. You 
may think it strange to see the boys serving at the 
New Bethesda. We sometimes call the loss of prop- 
erty misfortune, when it is really the best thing for 
the growth of manly character that the yoke be borne 
in youth, that the value of a dollar be learned by 
being earned. Inherited money is often recklessly 
spent; the money that we toil for is appreciated. 
The work and experience will be good discipline for 
the boys. Poor Balph’s health was sadly broken. He 
went down to ‘death’s door the same week in which 
we buried his mother, and has never fully rallied. 
He is thin and pale. We hope much from the invigo- 
rating help of the New Bethesda.” 

“ Is the daughter like her mother ? ” 


THE DREAM REVEALED. 


215 


We hope she will become more and more like her 
as she grows older. Her hair and eyes are like her 
mother’s, but her features are different. ' She is like 
her in spirit ; and that, after all, is the ’true likeness.” 

“ Will she soon be here ? I am eager to see her.” 

‘‘ She must come soon, if at all. Our time is fast 
flying. Mr. Eaynor will find her a full-grown humani- 
tarian. She has just graduated from the high school, 
and she did such a brave thing we are all proud of 
her. ‘ There was a colored boy in the class, and when 
the young ladies were arranging for their commence- 
ment reception and dance, one after another said, H 
will not dance with James Morgan ! ’ Mabel heard 
them, and then said calmly, ‘ I shall dance with him. 
He is a good boy, and stands well in his class, and 
I don’t care anything about the color of his face.’ 
Mabel Wentworth had spoken. The young ladies be- 
gan to be ashamed of their remarks, and one after 
another joined in the spirit of good-fellowship, until 
Mabel had carried the whole class. The Wentworths 
are an old family; her father has been mayor of 
the city, and Mabel won three of the high school 
medals.” 

That is noble independence for a young girl. The 
world will hear from her yet. How much comfort 
Arena’s children must be to you ! ” 

I need them. Arena was the last of my family. 
Our three brothers early went over to the majority. 
What havoc the war made among the homes of our 
land ! ” 

Did you lose brothers in the army ? ” 

^^They contracted disease which left them a few 


216 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

lingering, painful years j but the war killed them as 
truly as though they had fallen in battle/’ 

‘‘ My brothers fell in battle.” 

The greater glory and the briefer pain.” 

“ Perhaps we had better go to the house. Mr. Eay- 
nor spoke of a Mrs. Cutter whose husband is very ill, 
who needed me. I have n’t been quite well this year. 
I may have to lie down.” 

You tremble, Mrs. Eaynor. Come to the house 
and rest. Do not take any more care. I will stand 
by Mrs. Cutter. She is pretty strong of herself, but 
it does her good to meet those who know that the 
New Bethesda has healing, power. Mr. Cutter berates 
it terribly; but if it gets hold of him it will conquer 
in the absence of faith.” 

The ladies walk slowly out from the shadow of the 
pines, Kate bending now and then to gather sprays 
of low blueberries thick about her feet. They were 
new to her. The western borders of Pennsylvania 
nourish no such fruit. The morning had been a 
strange, sad revelator, and to go alone with God and 
think seemed the only rest. She did not appear at 
dinner, and Maud, fresh and bright from her swift 
ride, flew to her mother’s room to see if the terrible 
lethargy again enthralled her. 

“No, my daughter. But I have lived too fast; too 
much that is strange and unreal has flitted before me. 
It is just as I knew. Arena Eemington is the mother 
of those dark-eyed boys, and Mrs. Winters is her sis- 
ter, and the very last of her family. It is a long, sad 
story to come to such a heart as mine all at once. 
Just let me rest. Tell father not to be troubled.” 


THE DREAM REVEALED. 


21T 


‘‘ We are troubled. Even Mr. Gaston inquired for 
you. What a gracious gentleman he is! Mr. Eoss- 
ville is fortunate in having one in his position so 
pleasing to the guests.V 

''There will be a young lady here this afternoon 
whom you must know at once, — Arena Eemington’s 
daughter. I heard Paul tell his aunt as we came in 
from the grove that his sister Mabel would be here 
to-day.’’ 

" A daughter ! Sister of your boys ! Why, mother, 
what a romance it is ! ” 

" She is very young, — only sixteen ; but you will 
find a mate in her as really as in Helen Eossville.” 

"Yes, mother.* I wish you could go down to din- 
ner — as hungry as I am.” 

" You have driven to Batesville, while I have been 
turning over the dead leaves of the past.” 

Maud Eaynor returns to the table. The great hall 
is very brilliant with its crowd of well-dressed people, 
its waiters in white, and the happy look on all faces 
which comes of pleasant surroundings and courteous 
service. Mr. Cutter is at the table for the first time, 
a little improved as to color, and the casual observer 
might say he was eating like a wood-chopper. Mr. 
Winters and ’Squire Eaynor had passed the morning 
with him. They had told him stories of the curative 
power of the Spring, until he had evinced just the 
dawning of faith. 

" Not on account of your boasting. I ’in used to the 
minister, and I ’ve no great faith in lawyers ; but I do 
feel just a grain better myself,” said he. 

"You won’t put it that way,” said Dr. Eossville, 


218 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


when you We been here long enough. My patients 
don’t talk about feeling a grain better; they are 
pounds better. Tons better, — that ’s the way to put 
it; grains are too small.” 

I ’ll put it worlds better, when I can without ly- 
ing ; but these fellows have told their stories without 
a single blush, and they all sounded like whoppers.” 

They can prove every one, can’t ye, ’Squire ? 
Prove it so that any court in the country would bring 
in a verdict of cured, — cured by the waters of the 
New Bethesda. You just believe, and do, and you ’ll 
be saved. Doubters are damned, so the Bible says. 
I would n’t run any risks if I was you.” 

In this way had Dr. Eossville and his friends tried 
to encourage the hopeless invalid, and their united 
efforts had not been wholly in vain. He had ventured 
to the dinner-table, one of the notable adjuncts of the 
miracle pool, and whatever his faith in the Spring, he 
had unmistakable evidence that the table was doing 
its best to strengthen the weak and restore the ill, — 
a table fit for a king,” he said to Mrs. Cutter. 

Maud went to her mother’s room and waited quietly 
until the restful sleep had spent itself, and as she saw 
signs of awakening thought, she determined to turn it, 
if possible, to other channels. She could see how this 
recall of the past had been too sorrowful for her 
mother’s tired nerves, and the need of some new out- 
look not wholly connected with the life of her school- 
mate at St. Stephen. Maud was always bright and 
cheerful, a real tower of strength to her weary mother. 
“ I am learning new things every day, mother dear.” 
“ That is the way to wisdom, my child.” 


THE DREAM REVEALED. 


219 


I don’t mean wise things, or book-learning, 
but about the people here. Mr. Eossville says one of 
the chambermaids is an artist, a first-class portrait- 
painter. She grew tired with long application, and 
came here for rest and change. Princes in disguise ! 
It is like fairy-land. Mr. Gaston himself may be a 
prince. And one of the table-girls, mother, speaks 
French and German, and at off hours is reading Greek 
and Latin. Mr. Eossville says there are ever so many 
school-teachers among them. They like to come here. 
It feeds the mind to live three months on these won- 
derful hills, and tones them in every way for the work 
of the coming year.” 

“Do you know the artist, Maud? Is she on our. 
floor ? ” 

“ She is on the floor below. I am going to find her, 
and ask her to paint ^ my picture. It would be just 
splendid to have a waiter-girl at the New Bethesda 
House do such a piece of work.” 

“Perhaps her time is all engaged. You had better 
ask Mr. Eossville about it first.” 

“ Mr. Eossville is thoroughly kind. I know he 
won’t care. I can help her make beds so as to gain 
time.” , 

“ It takes a good many hours to paint a portrait, 
my daughter.” 

“ I shall be glad to help her. Susie and Helen are 
busy with dressmakers. They are getting ready for 
school, and I shall have plenty of time to make beds 
with Miss Euss. I know we can gain the time. And, 
mother, three of the waiter-boys besides Mr. Gaston 
are to be ministers ; one of them a Catholic.” 


220 THE EOMANCB OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

And who are the others ? 

''Your dark-eyed boys, to be sure,— Flint and Paul.'^ 
" Have those young boys decided on the ministry ? ’’ 
"How much younger are they than I was, mother 
dear, when I entered the valley of decision ? 

They seem to me not more than fifteen or sixteen 
years old.” 

"Years are old deceivers. They may be eighteen. 
The daughter, you say, is sixteen. Perhaps one is 
older, and the other younger than she. And, mother, 
ministers are often called by the inner voice before 
even that age is reached. There have been many 
Samuels. I presume 'these boys have been inspired 
by their uncle.” 

" Pather by their mother, whose life was withdrawn 
from the world like Samuel’s in the Temple service.” 

" Will you come downstairs this evening, mother ? 
Mr. Eossville is going to exhibit his new fire-escape. 
It will be very amusing to watch the shooting phan- 
toms. He told us about its working.” 

Maud had unconsciously, in telling her bits of news, 
run right into the heart of her mother’s interest, and 
she fiew to the fire-escape to keep her from settling 
and brooding there. 

It was indeed very amusing to see the volunteers 
one after another come down to the ground through 
the canvas tunnel. All the house was out to watch 
this new exhibition, Mrs. Kaynor among the rest. 
But she soon tired of the sameness, and went to the 
piazza for a brisk promenade ; or perhaps she felt a 
creeping chill from long standing on the dewy grass. 
Just before her as she walked was Mrs. Winters, arm 


THE DREAM REVEALED. 


221 


in arm with Mabel Wentworth, and she had a good 
opportunity to observe the gait, the pose of the head, 
the trim figure. Yes ; here again were suggestions of 
the poet of St. Stephen, and all the more impressive 
because of the womanly presence. She had not walked 
the length of the New Bethesda House before ’Squire 
Eaynor and Mr. Winters came, tired from a long 
tramp in the woods. Then the march ended, and 
Mabel turned to meet her mother’s early friend. 
Maud was called from her interest in the latest inven- 
tion, and all went in together to supper. 


222 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

NOT LOVE, BUT A BARGAIN. 

ATY, you have been so absorbed in your ro- 
XSk.. mance, you have given little thought to the 
other interesting people here.” 

“ I could n’t, Charles, until the mystery of my 
thrills was in a measure revealed.”^ 

Mr. Winters told me an interesting story about 
the Boltons. You will never forget how we gathered 
around the debaters when Mrs. Bolton tried to con- 
vert him three years ago. He told me the sequel. 
She went home and found that her church had so 
changed she could no longer sit in peace among its 
worshippers, and she withdrew, with her husband, and 
joined the Church of the Ancient Brotherhood. The 
minister and people gathered around them with argu- 
ment and appeal, but all to no purpose. They must 
follow the great awakening which had come to them, 
and make their home with the people of like precious 
faith. A new house of worship was under construc- 
tion, and the Boltons had subscribed a thousand dol- 
lars. This they conscientiously paid before leaving. A 
large class of young men whom Mrs. Bolton had taught 
in the Sunday-school followed her to the new church. 
Such a story as that will set Maud’s heart on fire.” 


NOT LOVE, BUT A BARGAIN. 223 

How true it is that ^ the steps of a good man are 
ordered of the Lord ’ ! Those debates helped others be- 
sides Mrs. Bolton. Yes, Maud will be doing that 
very work soon ; and what a glorious work it is, to open 
blind eyes ! ” 

You know the Boltons were suddenly called home ; 
That was what brought their case to Mr. Winters’s 
remembrance. They left yesterday. Sickness of her 
mother, I believe.” 

‘^No, Charles, I confess I knew nothing about it; 
but you cannot wonder. I have had an absorbing 
experience, which has kept me deaf to every other 
interest ever since I came here.” 

“ But you will come to yourself now, Katy. The 
time is growing short. Our Adirondack boys will be 
going home soon, and Bred must be in school too. 
Let us enjoy these days. We may never come here 
again.” 

There has been something deeper than what the 
world calls enjoyment in these passing days, — some- 
thing which has impressed me anew with the myste- 
rious kinship of certain souls, a kinship which the 
change of worlds cannot alter. Arena Bemington lives 
in her children as few mothers do, or can. It seems 
as though she herself brooded over these hills, and 
daily glimpses of her spiritual face were granted me.” 

I do not want you drawn away by spirit faces, 
Katy dear. You have seemed strange ever since Alex 
was married.” 

shall be all right when we are at home once 
more. I have not rested as I should ; and, Charles, 
I have forgotten my regular walks to the Spring. I 


224 THE EOMANCE OP THE NEW BETHESDA. 

will try to do better, and think of these events as 
natural.” 

I ran across Mr. Stapleton this morning. He is 
stopping for a few days at the Old Stage Tavern. 
You remember how suddenly he disappeared three 
years ago. He has had terrible experiences. George 
turned out badly, and the old man’s heart is almost 
broken. He was called home then to help him out of 
some trouble. He talks about it like a child, or one 
whose mind is in chaos.” 

How thankful we ought to be for good children ! ” 

Yes, Katy, even if they do get married young.” 
thought Maud was going to take an independent 
course, and the Marshall talks have not troubled me 
at all ; but last night I heard Mr. Marshall ask Maud 
for an hour, and there was more than friendly feeling 
in his voice. He said, ^ I go to-morrow : will you 
give me an hour ? ’ and she walked with him to the 
end of the piazza, where they sat and talked until 
almost ten o’clock. He takes the morning stage, I 
believe, and — there they are coming up from the 
Spring now!” 

Marshall is a young man of excellent talents; 
but I confess I want to banish any young man who 
would tempt our only daughter from us. Maud is the 
very apple of my eye.” 

He has come round to her ways of thinking, and 
that, of course, is a compliment to Maud. There have 
been no discussions this time that could rufide the 
temper.” 

It may be only the interest of congenial minds in 
the great topics of the day that attracts them. I sel- 




NOT LOVE, BUT A BARGAIN. 225 

dom see Marshall speaking to any one else. He does 
not seem to be a genuine lover of his race.’^ * 

Mr. Marshall and Miss Eaynor stop on the croquet 
ground and take a turn at the balls. Maud is a skil- 
ful player, and her movements are the embodiment of 
grace. They play until the coach is seen coming from 
the Old Stage Tavern. The young man has done his 
packing, and his room is ready for another. Mrs. Kay- 
nor watches the adieus. They seem careless and easy, 
and as Mr. Marshall turns away, Maud hails a young 
girl who has just tripped down the steps, a water- 
bottle in her hand. 

Come and play awhile. Miss Wentworth ? 

“I must go to the Spring after fresh water for 
Aunty. She is not well this morning. Then if she 
can spare me I shall be glad to play.^^ 

Maud drops her mallet, and running to the side of 
the young girl they walk down the planks arm in arm. 
The coach passes. Mrs. Eaynor sees everything. 
Yes, it is Mr. Marshall on the outside. He lifts his hat, 
and turning looks back, — at the hotel ? Ho ; Mrs. 
Eaynor plainly sees that his eyes rest on no massive 
pile of wood and stone. Two young girls in pretty 
morning-dresses and wide sun-hats hold the blue eyes 
until the coach is hidden by the hindering woods. 
On returning, the girls play awhile. Aunty wants to 
sleep, and Mabel can play as well as not. Then, as 
Maud discovers her father and mother carrying the 
hammock to the pines, she excuses herself with a 
promise to meet her new friend later, and follows 
them. Mabel gets a minute occasionally to talk to her 
brothers. She trips down the walk with Flint as he 

15 


226 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

goes to the Old Stage Tavern after the mail. Time 
can never hang heavily on the hands of a helpful girl 
like Mabel. 

As Maud nears her parents she asks if they want her, 
or if they are going into the woods for a real lovers’ 
sit-down by themselves. She is welcomed right heart- 
ily in a single breath by Mr. and Mrs. Eaynor, and 
taking a chair she sits near them. It is evident that 
she wishes to confide some weighty secret. They make 
it easy for her by opening the way. 

People are beginning to leave. The coach was full 
this morning. Couldn’t Marshall wait a few days 
longer ? ” 

He goes to a new parish and needs time to get set- 
tled before the work opens.” 

“ He ought to have asked until October, as you did.” 

These old established places never break their 
original order. Vacation ends with the last Sunday 
of August.” 

‘^Marshall has quite captivated the House by his 
preaching this summer. I have heard it talked of in 
comparison with Mr. Winters’s. Of course, nobody 
can ever fill the place of young Eossville’s friend ; but 
Marshall has given excellent discourses.” 

“Don’t you think he has improved since he was 
here before ? ” 

Yes ; he is less nervous, more self-contained.” 

“ I mean, in spirit. He seems to have been refined 
and softened by the discipline of the years. Taking to 
himself the larger views of life and Providence, he 
has been moulded in a measure by their spirit.” 

“ I suppose you have had no debates this summer ? ” 


NOT LOVE, BUT A BARGAIN. 227 

There has been nothing to debate about. We 
think alike now.” 

‘^He does not accept the faith of the Ancient 
Brotherhood ? ” 

There is no difference between his philosophy of 
religion and mine.” 

How then can he stay in the old fellowship ? ” 

He is quite at home there. All the young men 
are with him, and many of the older ones.” 

But is it honest to subscribe to a creed which you 
do not believe ? ” 

He tells me they put their own interpretation into 
the words, — believe with such mental reservations as 
enlightened reason makes necessary.” 

‘^He would be wiser and more saintly to enter a 
church where he would not be troubled by a creed 
requiring mental reservations.” 

^^Old associations hold him, — the ties of family, 
and the prestige of historic names; it is a great 
change to make, for one who is wedded to an estab- 
lished order.” 

change needed by the inner revolution. You 
can’t raise magnolias in Iceland. The tree and the 
climate must correspond.” 

When the climate has so modified that the warmth 
of summer is enjoyed, it is congenial, no matter by 
what name it is called. And, father, you are doing 
the same thing which you count dishonest in Mr. 
Marshall.” 

‘‘I am not a leader, but a simple layman. And 
Meadowville has no church to which I could go if I 
left the fold in which I was born.” 


228 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Let us drop the question of churches. I want to 
talk about something else. Mr. Marshall ha^, in an 
intellectual and business-like fashion, , talked with me 
about the establishment of a partnership; but I can 
see no way in which it can be effected unless he comes 
into my church. Women preachers are not wel- 
comed in his. I should have everything to give up 
for which I have toiled and to which I have aspired.’’ 

“ Maud, dear,” said her mother, did you say Mr. 
Marshall had talked about a partnership, without 
the only possible cohesion of such a partnership, — 
love ? ” 

“ I did not say that, mother ; but we are both edu- 
cated for professional life. He has already won his 
laurels. Of course there is much to be thought of, 
that does not come into an ordinary marriage. We 
must first see if the conditions can be satisfactorily 
adjusted. As I have not yet begun the work of my 
profession, he thinks I can find an outflow for my 
religious desire by pouring it through him, — by en- 
tering all the avenues of his work in which a woman 
can serve without breaking denominational rules or 
incurring censure. I can exhort in the devotional 
meetings and speak in the woman’s missions and the 
young people’s societies. So far as he is concerned 
he believes that a woman ought to do what she is 
fitted for. He would like to share the pulpit with 
me.” 

^‘Let him leave the narrow fold and join the Church 
of the Ancient Brotherhood, and he can. Tell him 
about the Tracys in England. They went there for 
study, but must make their way, and so Mr. Tracy 


NOT LOVE, BUT A BARGAIN. 229 

took a church. He preached morning and evening. 
On a certain day, for some reason he was unable to 
preach in the evening. The wardens had heard that 
Mrs. Tracy sometimes preached in America, and they 
ventured to invite her to conduct the evening service. 
She was so sweet and gracious and persuasive, she 
moved their hearts in such Christian fashion, that 
they invited her to take the evening service during 
the remainder of their stay. She took it a year, and 
her hands sparkle with the diamonds they gave her 
on parting, in every gleam of which she can see the 
loving eyes of her devoted people.” 

Oh, mother, Mr. Marshall would not like to be 
eclipsed in that way. He is a man ; and for so many 
centuries man has been the head,’ it would be hard to 
see a woman rise above him, even though she were his 
wife.” 

There should be no thought of above or below. I 
do not understand that Mrs. Tracy rose above her 
husband. She supplied the power which he lacked. 
Man is not whole until his life is rounded by woman’s 
grace and love ; and nobody needs this enlargement’ 
so much as the minister. The churches would 
thrive tenfold better if they w6re fed from woman’s 
heart and brain as well as man’s. I would see Mr. 
Marshall in the moon before I would give up my 
profession! ” 

Mother dear, you are emphatic!” 

^^When Mr. Marshall’s heart is ploughed to its 
lowest deeps by the share of a great love, he will not 
premise and potter and arrange in this way. He will 
give the woman who stirs his devotion her full half of 


230 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


life. In his abandon he will be ready to surrender 
all, not reckoning his own earthly gains.’’ 

^^But if the woman has something of man’s judg- 
ment because of education and discipline, she may 
desire to fill the roll of surrender and overflow.” 

“ In that way, Maud, education simply deepens the 
ruts of her world-old service. She has always sur- 
rendered, and been meek and yielding. She deserves 
a chance for the use of her faculties. She is some- 
thing more than man’s appendage.” 

“We have been balancing this matter. Nothing is 
settled. It may all end in talk.” 

“ It should end in talk, my daughter, unless he can 
prove a nobler love.” 

“ Some of the happiest marriages are those which 
are prefaced by a little sensible planning. Your sense 
of right, dear mother, would not be satisfied if father 
was unjust in any way. You believe alike on the 
property question, and so all the little money arrange- 
ments run smoothly. When the new house was built, 
the deed was made out in your name. I remember 
how gallantly father declared you had helped him 
earn it. Mr. Marshall and I have talked that ques- 
tion over. He had some experiences while in college 
which convinced him that an independent purse is 
needed by everybody, young or old, man or woman ; 
and he says his wife shall never have to ask him for 
money. A certain sum shall be sacredly set apart to 
her, to use in her own independent way.” 

“That is all very well. But while Mr. Marshall 
promises to furnish the money, the very terms of a 
union between you would cut off your professional 


NOT LOVE, BUT A BAEGAIN. 


231 


income. You have put thousands into your education, 
besides the heart’s love and desire, and it is asking a 
most unreasonable condescension when Mr. Marshall 
even ,hints merging your personality in his, so that 
your years of preparation shall be of no use to the 
world.” 

“ But I want you to see, mother dear, how large he 
is in some directions where men are small — or is 
it only thoughtlessness? Half the husbands, and 
more, dole out money to their wives as though they 
had no claim upon the family purse. I think the 
woman who keeps her house is as much a producer as 
though she had a professional income. How soon this 
is found out when the busy hands are folded, and hire- 
lings come to take her place and do her tasks, without 
the love with which she consecrated them ! ” 

“ I am glad of all the growth of thought which Mr. 
Marshall demonstrates; but when he asks a young 
lady to give up a profession and pour her personality 
through him, she should turn the tables. Ask him 
how he would like to give up his profession and con- 
tent himself with speaking in the devotional meetings, 
the missions, and at the young people’s society ; and 
when he is ready to yield his life-work for love of her, 
she can afford to believe in his honesty.” 

Why, mother dear, you have not lived with a law- 
yer, ^ lo, these many years,’ without absorbing his pro- 
fession. There ought to be a partnership at once. 
What shall we name it ? ” 

The Baynor Family ! ” exclaimed Maud’s father. 

Alex comes in by virtue of regular study, and 
mother and daughter win their titles by sheer brill- 


232 THE EOMANCB OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

iance of intellect. We’ll have the sign up at once. 
Instead of ^ Eaynor & Son,’ it shall be ^ The Eaynor 
Family.’ ” 

There comes Fred, with a hurt of some sort. I 
can’t bear to hear a boy cry,” said Maud, 
jammed my finger, helping Dennis.” 

Which one of the partners shall put on the band- 
age ? ” said ’Squire Eaynor. 

Already the mother’s fine linen handkerchief was 
shorn of one of its hems, and Fred’s finger was done 
up while a less dexterous hand would have been dimly 
feeling after a rag. 

“Just so much more deftly will she handle the sym- 
bolic implements, — the shield of faith, the sword of 
the Spirit, the sandals of peace. Do not surrender 
your armor, my daughter. No other can wear it for 
you.” 

“ I have no idea of surrender, dear father. I prize 
too highly the liberty wherewith Christ has made me 
free. Thank you both for speaking plainly. Now I 
will find Mabel Wentworth, and spin the balls until 
they will look like things of life. We shall work out 
the problem according to eternal laws. Do not have 
a particle of fear. We are thoroughly sensible, and 
as cold as the stars.” 

“ Not much like our love affair, is it, Katy ? ” 

“ There is no love affair about it. It is a piece of 
cool calculation ; an attempt to make a bargain with 
the advantages all on one side.” 


THE HUSH OF DEATH!. 


233 


CHAPTER XXII. 


THE HUSH OF DEATH. 


HERE was hurrying to and fro, and guest and 



i helper were talking in bated breath as Mrs. 
Raynor began early in the morning to redeem her 
promise of regular walks to the Spring. A shadow 
lay across the sunrise glow, and the faces about her 
wore an ominous gloom. She hastened through the 
long hall, seeking the open air, in fear of some sorrow- 
ful tidings. Young Mr. Rossville rushed by, not 
knowing whom he passed or what apprehensive heart- 
beats followed him down the way to the Old Stage 
Tavern. The Spring seemed in the wrong direction, 
while unseen forces were attracting the heart of sym- 
pathy, as Kate essayed to keep her word and seek the 
refreshing draught. Half-way down the walk she 
met Mr. Winters. 

“ There is a shadow over the very grass at our feet, 
Mr. Winters ! I dread the revelation, and yet I must 
know. Indeed, I do know already. Mrs. Rossville is 


dead.'’ 


Yes ; they found her sleeping the restful sleep 
this morning." 


“ ‘ Found dead, — dead and alone ! 
Nobody near! nobody near ’ ? ” 


234 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

“Yes, she was alone; but she needed no one. 
Her face wore the peace of a quiet sleeper. Evi- 
dently the angel came without shock or pain/^ 

“I have feared this for years. She had heart 
trouble. I saw her once when a return to life seemed 
doubtful ; and only a few days ago we met at the 
Spring, and I went through the wood-path with her, 
to learn that she needed to sit down occasionally, 
although she looked so strong. Climbing the hill was 
an effort which gave her short breath. We talked 
about her state of health, and she expressed great joy 
that she had been spared to see her daughters enter 
the borderland of womanhood, where they would be 
able to do without a mother. Their education, too, 
was well advanced, and they would go bn without her 
stimulus, knowing her great desire to see them true 
and accomplished women.” 

“ Mrs. Hart, being so much older than Susie and 
Helen, can give them motherly counsel. She is a 
woman of good judgment, much like her mother.” 

“ How soon we begin to fill the places of our de- 
parted with the heart and toil of others ! ” 

“ It is life, Mrs. Eaynor. Some one must take up 
the fallen sceptre, even though it is inadequately borne. 
My. wife is no such motherly soul as her sister was ; 
and yet she does what she can to supply the missing 
mother-love to the Wentworth children.” 

“ She is not like Arena, and yet she constantly sug- 
gests her. I have lived apart with my friend of St. 
Stephen until Mr. Kaynor has great fear for my 
health. He thinks the land of dreams holds alto- 
gether too much of me for human comfort.” 


THE HUSH OF DEATH. 


235 


As Mrs. Eaynor and Mr. Winters talked, they were 
walking toward the Spring. That he had taken his 
pint from the sparkling water was no hindrance to 
this swift return. He would be ready for another 
draught by the time he had spanned the descending 
planks. They sit a moment under the balcony, and 
the ominous shadow seems brooding there also. Look- 
ing across the meadow, they descry the figure of a man 
sitting on a low stone near the dense copse bordering 
the lake. His head is bowed, and his whole aspect 
forlorn and dejected. There is immovable silence 
about him. Mrs. Eaynor adjusts her pocket-glass, 
and discovers Dr. Eossville. She had divined tliat 
it was he, gone away alone to think about this awful 
mystery of death. Her desire to bear him some word 
of comfort was so intense that she started to her feet. 
“ I will go to him,’’ she said. He needs the help of 
some heart that has suffered.” 

Mr. Winters, living so much of his life among sick- 
ness and bereavement, knew better the soul’s first 
need of solitude. 

His own thought with God will be best for him 
now. When the shock has spent itself a little, human 
sympathy can be of some avail.” 

Oh, it is so hard to bear it alone ! and yet I know 
we must. I myself have hidden away, refusing to sec 
my best friends until I could gain possession of my- 
self ; and yet I never see a soul in trouble that I do 
not want to bear the cup of consolation.” 

Human sympathy, so deep and strong, is not always 
wise. Much of the consolation offered at funerals is 
like water spilled on the ground. Grief must have 


236 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

its way before the soul can appropriate the heavenly 
helps.’’ 

See ! the old Doctor has risen, and is staggering 
along like a blind man. He is coming this way. I 
will go and meet him ; he needs help 

Mrs. Eaynor trips across the dewy aftermath, 
forgetful of herself in her absorbing sympathy. 
She makes the larger portion of the dividing dis- 
tance, when she meets the owner of these delightful 
hills. 

Folks are pretty much all gone,” says the Doctor, 
absently. “ It will be silent as death here in a few 
days. Have you been to the Spring? I’m going 
there; I’m faint.” 

Mrs. Eaynor turned and walked silently beside the 
tottering old man, who seemed to have aged ten years 
since she last saw him. Mr. Winters had waited, in 
the dim hope that his office of comforter might not be 
unavailing even now. 

^'You’re out early, Mr. Winters; I hope you are 
not faint.” 

Mr. Winters drew the refreshing draught, while Dr. 
Eossville submitted to be waited on like a helpless 
child. 

‘^That’s reviving. There’s something in the Bible 
about living water. Can you say it, minister ? ” 

“‘Whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give 
him, shall never thirst ; but it shall be in him a well of 
water, springing up into everlasting life.’ ” 

“I don’t know so much about that water as I do 
about the Hew Bethesda, and I guess I need it. She 
died last night.” 


THE HUSH OF DEATH. 


237 


<^Yes, Doctor; we all need to drink from the foun- 
tain of immortal life when we see ^ the life that now 
is ’ slipping away from us.’’ 

“ I always thought I should go first, Mary was so 
much younger. I’m not prepared for this.” 

‘‘None of us are prepared for these separations, 
even though we may have thought of their possibility 
many times. They come upon us like the shock of 
fate. There is only one help ; that is a firm trust in 
Him who is the resurrection and the life, and who has 
said, ‘ Because I live, ye shall live also.’ ” 

“You think she ’s alive? She looks cold and dead.” 

“The body, which is only the house the spirit lives 
in, or rather the machine which it uses in the work 
of life, is dead ; but the spirit never dies. That lives 
right on in the midst of new conditions and improved 
opportunities.” 

“ Do you believe that of everybody, good and bad ? ” 

“ Yes ; of everybody. Even the dead heathen have 
a chance to see the Christ and learn the lessons of his 
redeeming grace.” 

“ She was a remarkably good woman. I guess the 
Lord will find a pleasant place for her. But I wanted 
her to live and see prosperous days. She ’s had too 
much hard work.” 

“No prosperous days of earth can equal the glory 
and satisfaction of the heavenly inheritance.” 

“Do you think so too, Mrs. Eaynor?” 

“Oh, Doctor, ‘eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither hath entered into the heart of man, the 
glory’ of the immortal country. I believe with all 
my heart ; and I have hosts of beloved ones over 


238 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

there. It is not far, — just a step across the narrow 
stream.’^ 

No, it is not far for an old man like me, I know 
that ; but it is hardest for them that stay behind.” 

They prevail upon the Doctor to return to the 
New Bethesda, where Mrs. Eaynor sees that he has 
breakfast in a quiet room alone. The guests feel the 
shadow, and there is a hush over everything. Maud 
and Mabel Wentworth have already been down to the 
Old Stage Tavern to see if any offer of help can make 
the way easier for Susie and Helen. They come in 
with the soft step of thoughtful sympathy, and while 
none care for breakfast, they go to the dining-hall, 
knowing that the demands of the hour will require 
strength and an even pulse. Mr. Gaston moves the 
chairs with more than his usual quiet, and the waiters 
talk in bated breath as they gather in little groups 
about the hall. It is the old and yet ever awesome 
visitation whose frequency takes no sharpness from 
the arrow, and no sting from the hearts it pierces. 

The Eaynors and Winterses repair to a quiet corner 
of the piazza, as is the custom of many of the guests 
after the breakfast-hour. 

“ This is the first time these hills have been over- 
shadowed by death during my summer visits among 
them,” said Mr. Eaynor. 

We are not removed from the invasion of the old 
conqueror even here,” said Mr. Winters. It seems 
a happy holiday prolonged; but more than once we 
have had sudden reminders that the laws of life and 
death hold us all, even among these invigorating hills 
and close by the life-giving Spring. The daughter of 


THE HUSH OF DEATH. 


239 


one of the literary women of New York died here. 
She came an invalid, but would have been helped and 
probably restored, had she taken care of herself. But 
she would not conform to the needs of her own weak- 
ness. She took long walks, engaged in all the pas- 
times, the dances, the theatrical performances, neces- 
sitating late hours, and the water had no chance to 
exert its healing properties. She was a bright girl, 
thoroughly alive to every interest, and it seemed im- 
possible for her to give up to the demands of sick- 
ness. Another, a young lady from Boston, came too 
late and lived but four days. These events shadow 
the house for a day or two, but the wheels go on again 
as before. In Mrs. Eossville’s case it will be differ- 
ent. She was one of the centres of interest here, — 
one of the forces making this place prosperous and 
popular. Her children will not spring up at once 
from this blow. They loved and honored their mother.^’ 

^^The Old Stage Tavern can scarcely run without 
her. She has had her steady hand on everything 
there for many years,’’ remarked Mrs. Eaynor. 

‘‘J suppose Susie will take the head; or perhaps 
they will have a housekeeper. It was fortunate for 
young Mr. Eossville that he could have his aunt at 
the head of the New Bethesda. A young, vigorous 
and fashionable woman, interested in the house and 
all who come to it, — she has been of immense help to 
him,” said Mrs. Winters. 

Mother, Susie and Helen are going to wear mourn- 
ing. They have that to think about now, in the 
midst of their trouble. Mabel and I are going to 
Batesville to do the shopping for them.” 


240 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Many people think that mourning is a shield to 
them. If they wear it people have respect for their 
sorrow, and they are not expected to go to places of 
amusement or entertainment, but can have time for 
their grief. It certainly has an advantage in this 
way.’’ 

But, mother, it is such a trouble, when you are too 
much crushed to think of dress.” 

I know it, my daughter ; and for that reason, and 
because it is an example very hard for the poor to fol- 
low, our family never puts it on.” 

‘‘I have never worn crape,” remarked Mrs. Winters, 
‘^and the simple black which I put on when my 
mother went away I have never changed. One after 
another of my family followed her in such quick suc- 
cession that my shadow stayed.” 

^^That team is for us, Mabel,” said Maud; and 
the two young ladies went away on their helpful 
errand. There was little that the kindness of friends 
could do. What was once the sole office of ^ neighbor- 
ly affection, now belonged to the paid professional. 
Mrs. Kay nor and Mrs. Winters walked down to the 
Old Stage Tavern, but it was only that they might 
weep with Susie and Helen. However great their 
desire, they could furnish no assistance, 

A few days later there was a new grave in the 
Eossville family burying-ground, near the Old Stage 
Tavern. The granite shaft would bear another name, 
but time could not efface the influence or the memory 
of the serene woman who had filled her home with 
rare faithfulness and an uncomplaining service. 

How deceptive are appearances, Katy,” said ’Squire 


THE HUSH OF DEATH. 


241 


Eaynor, as he turned homeward after the burial of 
Mrs. Eossville. On the way he had encountered Mr. 
Cutter, who came to the Spring but a little while before 
because his wife and her minister insisted on his 
coming. He had looked like a ghost, while Mrs. Eoss- 
ville seemed in perfect health. Now, he was walking 
along the planks with a vigorous step, while his face 
seemed altogether changed. The pale, pinched look 
was gone. A fresh color overspread it ; and had Mr. 
Eaynor seen him for the first time, he would have 
said, That man is in perfect health.” The improve- 
ment was the more noticeable, as Mr. Cutter had re- 
moved to the Old Stage Tavern, and for several 
days had not been seen by the friends who tried to 
invest him with a degree of their faith in the New 
Bethesda. 

^^What a change!” said Mr. Eaynor, looking Mr. 
Cutter in the face, as though to assure himself that 
Hr. Eossville’s infidel stood before Him. 

Yes, I do look better ; that ^s so.” 

What do you think now of the virtues of the New 
Bethesda? ” 

^‘Well, — I’ve been under the influence of the old 
man, and he ’s enough to make a stone believe. I 
don’t know but it ’s faith cure, instead of water cure. 
He talks in such a way, as though he knew all about 
it, that before you know it you are thinking just as 
he does. I own up : the Spring is a marvel. I ’ve 
heard Mr. Winters tell his story, but it slipped off me 
without striking in. I did n’t half believe him ; and 
now the water has done for me bigger things than the 
minister ever claimed for himself. Yes, I ’m a con- 

16 


242 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

vert. I shall blow for the New Bethesda. Just look 
at me. I can blow. Positively, I feel so well Ihn 
tempted to run races, or climb the trees, or something, 
just to get rid of superfluous strength.’’ 

Mr. Cutter walked rapidly on, as though to prove 
his boastful assertion. The young ladies, Maud and 
Mabel, who had lingered reading the inscriptions 
on the old gravestones, now overtook Mr. and Mrs. 
Raynor. 

“ You ought to have stayed too, dear mother. It is 
interesting to linger among old family graves and 
read the records. The Rossville fathers for several 
generations sleep in that small enclosure. Mabel says 
her ancestors have a family lot in Rhode Island, on 
the farm where they settled one hundred and fifty 
years ago. Their negro servants sleep at their feet.” 

Yes, it is interesting to linger among old family 
graves ; but the custom of private burying-grounds is 
not a safe custom. The land may pass into other 
hands, and strangers will care little for the graves. 
I have seen marble head-stones broken down by herds 
of cattle pasturing among the sacred relics. It is 
better to keep up the community of interest so neces- 
sary to our life when the outer vestments of that 
life are laid down. Where a whole town or city is 
interested in the place of graves, it will be carefully 
guarded.” 

Our own private ground is likely to be despoiled 
in the near future,” said Mabel. The farm, still in 
the family name, is owned by a woman. There are 
no sons in the immediate line, and the dear old place 
may yet be ploughed by strangers.” 


THE HUSH OF DEATH. 


243 


“There is no near prospect of change in the Eoss- 
ville grounds,” remarked Mr. Eaynor. “ Hugh’s 
sturdy young son gives promise of bearing on the 
name; and Mr. Ellison and Mr. Albert may come to 
reflect upon the future now. The loss of their mother 
will give them serious thoughts. It is very sad to see 
an old home pass into the hands of strangers, either 
through loss of property or death. It would be a 
blessed thing if something could be done to perpetuate 
human homes. They are often quite unnecessarily 
broken at the death of the head. Failure to make a 
will that shall secure the home to the family has scat- 
tered many a happy group of children.” 

“ Ambition to shine as a benefactor has made many 
an unwise will. Some hungry institution has swal- 
lowed at a gulp what would have been shelter and 
bread to the prudent mother and her brood,” said 
Mrs. Eaynor. 


244 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

FORETHOUGHT. 

T AM lonesome, mother, now Mabel Wentworth 

X has gone.” 

^^And so are we lonesome without Mr. and Mrs. 
Winters. Perhaps you can take a sister’s part with 
the Wentworth boys. They will be lonesome too.” 

Small chance for that. They are running with 
water-pitchers nearly all the time. It is amazing, the 
amount of water required in the private rooms. Mabel 
says the boys almost carry a pitcher on each finger, 
and even then they have to climb the stairs innumer- 
able times. People are so thoughtless of the weariness 
of those who serve them.” 

^^Not all, Maud. The other night I was talking 
with that beautiful Mrs. Hill, from Chicago, when Paul 
Wentworth passed, bearing a pitcher. ‘Take one to 
my room, Paul,’ said she, ‘and that will save a run 
over the stairs.’” 

“She is one of a thousand. I heard the lady 
next door to us scold Flint because he did not come 
quicker after the ring of her bell. ‘ There were several 
calls almost at once,’ said Flint. ‘ I answered them 
in order, coming as soon as I could.’ He was so calm, 
she quieted down.” 


FORETHOUGHT. 


245 


Some people forget all Christian rules in the treat- 
ment of those who serve them. If they only stopped 
to reflect, they would see that a domineering course 
is not the one to insure faithful and happy service. 
Flint Wentworth will not go gladly to Mrs. Dingham’s 
room, now he has heard her scold. He will fly to help 
me. Your father and I made it the rule of our home, 
and of our treatment of those who toil for us, Ho put 
yourself in his place ^ do as you would be done by,’ 
were the circumstances reversed.” 

And just see how our girls love us ! Dinah would 
lay down her life for us.” 

Yes ; ever since we nursed her in sickness, and 
you took her place to save it for her, she has not been 
able to do enough for us. ' Powerful kindness,’ she 
said to me one day, ^ takin’ care ob poor ole black 
Dinah.’ I told her black Dinah had taken care of us 
for many years, and we were only paying a debt. Oh, 
will the world ever learn to rule by love ! ” 

“When woman becomes the teacher of religion, 
mother, and not until then.” 

“I am greatly interested in those boys serving so 
graciously here, and if we are prospered, mean to help 
them in their education.” 

“ They seem so far removed from the class which 
we usually assist that I should not dare offer them 
money.” 

“ Worthy young men seeking to educate themselves 
will not repel kindness, however independent they 
may be in spirit. The student is one whom all true 
Christians desire to aid. He should be kept free from 
annoying care of how he shall be fed and clothed, and 


246 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

be able, unembarrassed, to devote his thought to the 
work in hand. My heart has been almost broken in 
hearing the stories of starvation and self-denial 
which some students have to tell. In the midst of 
exhaustive mental work, and when the waste of the 
system is very great, they board themselves, — live on 
crackers and milk, or mush and molasses. Many a 
young man has aged before his time, because of this 
starvation process. It has taken years from his use- 
ful life. Oh, I want all the students well cared for, 
especially those who are to help the world’s deepest 
need ! You and Alex had the comforts of your own 
home, and an easy way. We will remember those who 
lack these blessings.” 

^Wes, mother dear, we will remember them. Only 
show me how, and I will devote my salary to the edu- 
cation of the Wentworth boys. They belong to the 
Church of the Ancient Brotherhood.” 

“ They belong to a secret order of union which holds 
certain persons living in the same ‘ sphere,’ as the 
Spiritualists would phrase it. You confess to being 
drawn to Mabel as you are not to other young ladies 
here. It is a union of souls. Those so attracted are 
on the same plane of life. It is the fellowship of 
approval.” 

There comes father with a pile of letters. Bead 
them all, quick, father dear.” 

^^Alex has settled down to work, but the new • 
grooves are a little too deep for him. He wants his 
father’s counsel; and from his description it is al- 
together too intricate a case for a young lawyer to 
handle.” 


FORETHOUGHT. 247 

‘^That means home. We cannot stay until the 
middle of September, can we ? 

No ; the case comes up for trial too soon for that. 
I shall need a little time on it.” 

^^We were just saying we were lonely without the 
Winterses and Miss Wentworth. We shall be ready 
to go at any time now. What else have you ? ” 

Oh, Willie and Eichmond are keeping house with 
Dinah. They had a ^ jolly camp,’ but are glad of the 
comforts of home, and ^ windows with mosquito bars.’ 
Poor fellows ! they have been sweet food for insects. 
The others are business letters, except this one ; ” and 
he tosses it in Mrs. Eaynor’s lap. 

California ! It must be from brother Jo’s big boy. 
We have no other correspondents in California.” 

She tears open the envelope and looks for the 
name. It is from Gertrude ! It is signed simply 
with her Christian name.” 

Mrs. Eaynor reads the letter, and her color comes 
and goes with the swift emotions that stir her heart. 
Maud busies herself with newspapers, and Mr. Eaynor 
wisely refrains from interrupting questions. After 
the reading, Katy leans her head against the protecting 
chair-back and closes her eyes. Charles knows she 
will speak in her own good time, though he is so eager 
to hear from Gertrude Ingalls, that it is hard to keep 
silent. 

“ Good news, Katy ? ” he has to ask. 

^^Yes, — in one sense good. Gertrude is coming 
North, and wants to see us in Meadowville on her 
way. She asks for directions, and says she wants to 
confide a case in ’Squire Eaynor. She does not mention 


248 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


Robert, nor say whether she was ever married to him. 
She says she has passed eventful years since we parted 
in Boston. There is an undertone of mystery about 
the letter. Of course she will tell us everything when 
she comes. I must answer her at once. She wishes to 
make the journey in September if possible. This letter, 
coming by way of Meadowville, has been delayed.’’ 

“1 think we had better start home in a day or two. 
A case from Gertrude Ingalls is somewhat provocative 
of interest. Beautiful Gertrude in the hands of the 
law ! ” 

''What do you suppose it means, father?” said 
Maud. 

"Very likely, that the adorable Robert Nickerson 
has proved as fickle after marriage as before.” 

" Oh, Charles, I cannot think that, after his peniten- 
tial letter,” said Mrs. Raynor. 

"From what you told me, I judge his letter was 
altogether too oratorical.” 

" It seemed genuine penitence. I believed him 
sincere.” 

"Doubtless he meant to be sincere, and was, until 
some artful Minnie took possession of him. There 
are plenty of men, Katy, who are just like weather- 
cocks, — turned by the wind that happens to be 
strongest for the time.” 

"I hope Minnie Swan did not follow him to Cali- 
fornia.” 

“Minnie Swan did go to California; Mr. Stapleton 
told me so. She went there to settle after her mar- 
riap. But California is a big State. Plenty of room 
in it for her and Robert Kickerson to keep apart.” 


FOEETHOUGHT. 


249 


she went to the State, she would go to the 
town if It was a possible thing. If she did not draw 
him into her net by her eyelids, she would flood him 
with letters if she found out his address.” 

“ You don’t seem to have much faith in little 
Minnie.’’ 


“I have seen Gertrude Ingalls’s tears, Charles, and 
the girl who caused them does not live in my world.” 

looked upon the girl as silly rather than sinful. 
Nickerson should have had poise enough to keep the 
even tenor of his way though beset by a dozen Minnie 
Swans.” 


They don’t grow by the dozen, Charles. You may 
sweep a whole State and not find another such girl as 
Minnie. She had no womanly reserve. Gertrude told 
me she poured out confidences to ^Robert which were 
simply amazing.” 

Nobert should have told her to seek her mother.” 

^^But you know Kobert was yielding and easy, 
afraid to offend.” 

‘‘And so he let offence fall upon the girl he loved 
and was engaged to!” 

“Yes, it was all wrong and awful! But I did' 
believe in his penitence ; and I hope now the case is 
a property case, and not anything between her and 
Eobert.” 


“Perhaps she has a claim on a gold mine, or a 
thousand acres of vintage.” 

“ Let us go and pack the trunks, said Maud. Start 
to-morrow, I say. Oh, mother, how shall I pack my — ” 
“ Your what, Maud ? ” 

“My portrait, to be sure. I did get her to crayon 


250 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

me, — the chamber-girl, I mean. Have n’t you missed 
me ? I can make a bed like an artist ; I Ve made 
hundreds of them, and gained all the time we wanted 
for the portrait.” 

I hope you paid Miss Euss well for teaching you 
to make beds.” 

We are both satisfied, mother, and we ’ve had real 
good times together. One does not know how long 
the mornings are until he tries to capture an artist’s 
time. There is time enough in this world for every- 
thing when we learn how to use it. Miss Euss is an 
interesting lady. Her father was a minister in the 
Church of the Ancient Brotherhood. We have talked 
whole histories, — in very sweet low tones, mother, 
for perhaps the next room held a late sleeper.” 

“ You will have to carry the crayon in your hand.” 

Ho, indeed. It is glassed and framed. I will get 
Mr. Eossville to pack it for me in excelsior, and a box 
near enough like a trunk to be checked.” 

Hon t ask Mr. Eossville. He is too busy a man 
to pack pictures for his lady guests.” 

I may ask him for the materials, may I not ? He 
is always accommodating.” 

will pack the portrait, Maud,” said her father. 
“ I am glad you were enterprising enough to obtain 
it. You are your mother’s own child for successful 
planning.” 

“ And before we go I want to ask Susie and Helen to 
visit us. It will be hard for them to go back to school 
so soon after their great sorrow. I think it would do 
them good to pass a few weeks in Meadowville this 
fall. If they can go when we do, all the better.” 


FOEETHOUGHT. 


251 


^'Suppose you run down to the Old Stage Tavern 
now, and if they can go with us we will wait a few 
days longer, or until they are ready.” 

“ They will be all ready. They have been making 
dresses a long time, father.” 

They will need time to pack them ; as much time 
as we have.” 

“You forget the portrait, which must be put up 
with care.” 

“I shall not forget anything that belongs to my 
daughter.” 

“ You are both quite willing, then, and I will go 
and ask them.” 

“ More than willing, Maud. I remember my prom- 
ise to their mother ; and though the girls do not need 
the guidance which would have been necessary had 
she left them then, my interest in them has deepened 
with the years, and I will do anything to make their 
sorrow lighter.” 

Maud went out with a light heart, thinking the 
lines had fallen to her in pleasant places, and she had 
a goodly heritage, — an ample home, and parents who 
were always kind and considerate. She saw Helen 
in a hammock under the pines, and running to her 
divulged her errand in a girl’s effusive way. 

“I should be so glad to go,” said Helen; “but I do 
not see how we can. Susie is to stay with sister Mary 
the coming winter and attend school, and you know 
I must keep up my regular course in Boston, or fall 
behind. Mrs. Hart needs Susie ; she takes mother’s 
death very hard.” 

“ Let us go down to the house and talk it over with 


252 THE KOMANCE OF 


THE HEW BETHESDA. 


Susie ; maybe she will see a way to make the visit 
and do the school work too. You can go with us now, 
stay a few weeks, and make up the lessons.'^ 

“I fear I am not student enough for that.^^ 

'' Helen, you are just as bright as a star ; I know 
you can.’^ 

-They talk with Susie. Maud urges and tries to 
overcome objections, but all to no purpose. Susie 
had one argument which Helen had not observed. 

'' Father is very poorly ; we must not leave him for 
a long journey. I shall be anxious about him, and 
must keep within call. But some time. Miss Kaynor, 
I do hope we can see you in your own home. I know 
It IS a true home and a reliable friendship that 
invites us.'' ^ 


Maud had to return without the consent which she 
hoped for. The Rossville girls had such a deep and 
wholesome sense of duty, that personal pleasure could 
hnd no excuse for invading the sacred realm. 

We can take our own time; the girls will not so 
this year." 

'' IS the very year they need the change," said 
Mr. Raynor. 


“It would seem so; but they follow strict lines of 
duty, and let personal pleasure stand aside." 

‘‘That is the stuff the true woman is made of." 

“It IS the kind of woman you are best acquainted 
With, IS it not, father?" 

For answer, ’Squire Raynor placed an arm around 
mother and daughter, and leading them to their rooms, 
helped about the packing in such a sensible way that 
the weariness, thus divided, was scarcely felt by either 


FORETHOUGHT. 


253 


I want to give Flint Wentworth some keepsake, 
Charles, for taking such good care of me during the 
sleepy days. Do you care if I let him have my 
watch ? 

You had better give him money, Katy. The boys 
have a long course before them.’ 

I will do that, indeed ; but money he would spend 
in his education. I want him to have some token 
from the woman who knew and loved his mother.” 

Yes y give him the watch, and have a new one. 
You have carried it so long it will be like giving a 
part of your very life.” 

^^That is what I want to do, — give him something 
so closely associated with me that it shall be a kind 
of talisman to the boy.” 

Flint took care of you, I know, mother dear,” said 
Maud ; “ and you think he is most like his mother ; 
but the boy at the Spring is as bright as the water he 
dips. I shall give my remembrance to him.”- 

And I,” said ’Squire Eaynor, ‘‘ shall give mine to 
Paul. He is a silent, introspective boy ; but there are 
deep wells in his nature, and if I am not mistaken in 
my reading we shall hear from him yet. Who knows 
but the voice of the mother, repressed because of her 
womanly care of her children, will find the speech in 
them which was denied to her individual lips ? ” 

^‘1 believe that is sometimes true. You know how 
earnestly Mark Staples desired to be a minister ; there 
were insurmountable obstacles in the way. But the 
desire blossomed in his son, and Everett Staples has 
the homage of all who listen to his voice. I hope the 
poet may find speech in some of Arena’s children.” 


254 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

“ What matters it whether the truth is uttered in 
numbers or in homely prose, if the world receives the 
needed help ? 

“ The world of letters ought to feel Arena’s power, 
if the natural order is sustained, and each tree pro- 
duces after its kind.” 

I make no doubt it will, Katy ; but we must wait 
for the fruit to ripen. — This is quite a speaking like- 
ness, Maud. We will tell people it was painted by one 
of the chamber-maids at the NewBethesda House ; and 
when we add a word about the students and Prince 
Gaston, they will think we have summered on Mount 
Olympus instead of a green hill away down East.” 

‘^Kingdom Station suggests the gods, does it not, 
father ? ” 

^^Yes; and the name of the Spring has deeper 
meanings than are ever connected with masquerading 
heathen deities. The old Doctor gets his history a 
little mixed, but it is all the more interesting for that. 
^An angel came down at times and troubled the 
water.’ The sick man whom Christ healed said he 
had no maw, when the water was troubled, to put him 
in.” 

Angels are ministers. I think it was a mighty 
angel who led you to the pool and made you drink 
and live. The Doctor is all right, if he does talk 
about the angel putting the sick folks in. There 
are other angels than the winged ones in heaven. ‘ 
We meet a good many of them in our rambles 
about this green and swinging world. We have met 
them here, more than we can name, have we not, 
mother ? ” 


FORETHOUGHT. 255 

a time I thought the whole hill alive with 
voices and radiant with angel wings.’’ 

“You needed holding fast, then. But, mother, are 
you not just dying to see the boys ? I am ; I can 
hardly wait. If we take the first train, — and we will, 
— in two days more those blessed tramps will feel the 
strength of their sister’s arms. Fred is as eager to 
see them as I am. He whimpered when I mentioned 
the near departure. He had been over everything a 
hundred times, he said, and Eich and Will not here to 
help him. Shall it be the first train in the morning, 
father ? ” 

“ You have said so. I suppose it would be ungra- 
cious to oppose the oracle.” 


256 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

EVENTFUL YEARS. 

I T is not easy to wait four years for tlie solution of 
a problem or the revelation of a mystery. But 
Providence never hurries. The inexorable law is ful- 
filled in its own time and way. The thing done in 
secret comes to light, the sin we thought covered by 
some adroit sentence confronts us in its naked de- 
formity, darker for the long delay. Our untruths and 
half-truths are the scorpion whips whose sting strikes 
home in the day of reckoning. There, is sometimes 
error in the court of human justice ; the Divine court 
•never makes mistakes. The sophist is unmasked, the 
buried wrong laid bare. Xo false premise helps to 
change darkness into light. The excuses framed in 
the midst of the crooked way have no power to turn 
it into the highway cast up for the redeemed. Only 
that penitence which means a forsaken sin is accepted 
in the court of Heaven’s justice. Plausible words 
are the soul’s alluring tempters to deeper and darker 
crimes. 

Gertrude Ingalls writing to her friend Mrs. Cath- 
arine Raynor that she had passed eventful years 
since last they met, speaks not only of herself but for 
the experience of the world. All years are eventful 
years in larger or lesser degree, and often most event- 


EVENTFUL YEAES. 


257 


ful when we least reckon them so. That year when 
your truth, which should be the vertical column with- 
out the swaying of a single hair, took on the character 
of the leaning tower of Pisa, much that you thought 
unrelated to the path you would cover was thereby 
overshadowed, buried beyond resurrection, utterly 
lost. Life is a network of related possibilities j and 
of the characteristics of man, as truly as of the union 
of the race, it may be said, ^af one member suffer, all 
the members suffer with it.^' Only the high levels of 
absolute right are God's accepted levels. To these 
he is perpetually calling His children by all the 
voices of experience, entreaty, and rebuke. If His 
voice were heeded and followed, what oceans of 
tears would be assuaged, what menacing heart-aches 
healed ! 

Maud Eaynor, taking on the office of the minister, 
finds herself in the midst of relations of which her 
pure home-life had given her no key. She is alarmed 
as she watches the course of her young people, so 
volatile, so given to the pursuit of pleasure, with small 
evidence of that serious undertone which swayed and 
fashioned her own youth. She sees the future of 
religion in perilous hands, and at once centres the 
efforts of her Christian womanhood upon the young. 
She is amazed that the Sunday-school takes on the 
air of a holiday party, with scarcely a sign of the 
reverence suggested by the place and the work it -is 
set to do. She reorganizes, but tries most of all to 
put the living spirit into the wheels. To impress the 
young with some sense of relationship with God and 
each other which shall stir emotions deeper than a 
17 


258 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

laugh, is her first essay. It is a serious and prolonged 
task. When she sees signs of root in the more 
thoughtful, she takes them apart, and by instructions 
and persuasions sealed by the witness of prayer strives 
to make of them a leavening centre for the larger 
company. Year after year she pours out her soul, 
and the fruitage is not yet. Signs of improvement 
indeed encourage her, — here and there a really con- 
verted life doing daily Christian work ; but oh, she 
thought the truth was such an open book that the 
world waited only to read it, to believe and live ! 
She had invested her enthusiasm in the small church 
in Edenville, as many another hopeful young servant 
has done before and will do again, to feel a degree of 
disappointment in the slow results. Giving herself 
wholly to the work, she could not understand the lack 
of consecration among her people. Maud was learn- 
ing a lesson in heredity. Not every life is naturally 
set in the grooves of right as hers had been. She 
was born out of the very heart of love and honor ; and 
of few of her people could that be said. They needed 
making over again before Divine grace could find un- 
occupied ground where to lodge. Sitting under the 
vines of home at the close of her fourth year of ser- 
vice, she gives voice to a little dejected sigh, and to 
the question, ^^What is it, my daughter?” answers, 
“ I cannot convert my world fast enough to suit me, 
father.” 

“ That is the experience of all reformatory workers. 
We have to learn God’s patience. I sometimes think 
it must pain His great heart to wait so long.” 

Why cannot the young see that there is no real 


EVENTFUL YEAES. 


259 


satisfaction in pleasure, — that only the everlasting 
truth and righteousness can yield sure happiness ? ” 

“Because they are young. Thought and judg- 
ment are immature.’’ 

“ I have tried to instruct, — to enlighten them.” 

And there lies one of the most discouraging obsta- 
cles in the way of the moral teacher. Line upon line 
and precept upon precept may not have a feather’s 
weight. Stern experience comes, and its lash strikes 
home conviction. When the young begin to reap the 
bitter fruits of their follies they see the meaning of 
the lessons that have been kindly set for them to 
learn.” 

“Is my office then meaningless, and my work of 
no avail ? ” 

“Not that; experience seems to be the needed 
plough, striking down to primitive rock, that the great 
lessons may take root. When experience speaks, 
we remember how plainly we had been told all 
that we are now learning through bitterness and 
pain.” 

“ I am becoming discouraged with myself, fearing 
that there is some lack in my fitness or my methods, 
that the fruits grow so slowly.” 

“You have carried your work too closely. You 
ought to have a radical change for a time. Vacations 
passed year after year within call of all the troubles 
of your people have not rested you sufficiently. Sup- 
pose you take an ocean voyage, — go to Europe for a 
few months ; or, if you do not care for the extensive 
travel, go across and settle down in the atmosphere of 
the Scottish lakes.” 


260 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


do not want the big sea between me and all 
whom I love.’’ 

It need not be. Your mother and I will go with 
you, and perhaps one of the boys. E-ichmond seems 
used up with his college studies. We will take 
•him.” 

I think I should find more refreshing in one look 
at the New Bethesda than all the Scottish lakes, with 
Europe thrown in.” 

^‘My daughter ! are you so hungry for the old 
haunts ? I have had the hardest work to stay at 
home four years, and have done so because you were 
so loyal to duty. I wish now, I had insisted on a 
break in the long strain. I see plainly it has been 
too long and too severe.” 

“ If it were not wrong for me to go so far from my 
people, I would start to-morrow. Some of them would 
sicken and die, and what would they do without me ? 

^^What would they do if you should sicken and 
die ? Duty to your people demands the best care 
of yourself.” 

“Do you think mother would like to go to the New 
Bethesda ? ” 

“ She never cares to go anywhere else. Willie and 
Ered teased her right gallantly to go to Chautauqua 
for the summer, and you saw how calmly she let the 
baby go off without her.” 

“How greatly we are infiuenced by association. 
Chautauqua is the fashion with Will’s friends and 
Ered’s, and they must go to Chautauqua. Eich did 
not want to go.” 

“ Eichmond got tired of the crowds, the rush, and the 


EVENTFUL YEARS. 


261 


hurry. I think he needs to rest in a place less like a 
school. The professors speak very highly of Eich- 
mond, — his mental gifts and scholarly tastes and 
application.^^^ 

“The best brain in the family, — I have always 
thought.’^ 

“And the tenderest muscle. He needs .physical 
training.’^ 

“That is a delightful picture, is it not, father — 
mother leaning on Eichmond’s arm ? ” 

“ Yes ; there is but one more delightful, and that is 
a daughter walking with her father. I shall never 
forget my joy when you became tall enough to take 
my arm as we walked part of the way together in 
your school-days. I turned into my office with a 
stronger and happier heart, feeling the clinging touch 
of your hand.” 

“Thank you, dear father. Eet us go down the 
garden walk and settle this momentous question.” 

“Perhaps they have some confidences we ought not 
to interrupt.” 

“ They have been walking, and reclining in the sum- 
mer-house, for an hour ; and if they have any more 
confidences they may share them with us.” 

Mr. Eaynor and Maud passed across the velvety lawn 
into the flower-garden. Eichmond hailed them, — 

“We have it all settled. Mother and I start for 
Kingdom Station to-morrow, if we can get • ready so 
soon ! ” 

“And we have it all settled, Mr. Capital of the 
Southern Confederacy. Father and I start for King- 
dom Station to-morrow, and no ‘if’ about it. If you 


262 THE EOMANOE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

want peace and union now and forever, hurry and get 
ready to go with us. Don’t think you are going to 
steal off without us and take half the union with you.” 

“ Honor bright, Maud ? Are you really going ? ” 

“ As sure as the river flows.” 

“ It does n’t flow. It just trickles over pebbles and 
wet sand.” 

“Oh, Kichmond, there are inner rivers which no 
August heats diminish ! I wish you were not such a 
realist.” 

“ This is a real question, and demands the plainest 
answer. Are you going, father ? ” 

“ Yes ! That is what we came to tell you.” 

“There is not a single lion in the way, is. there, 
mother ? ” 

“ Good ! Eich is turning poet. Certainly he for- 
got his realism when he put in the lion.” 

“We feared you would be the lion, Maud, with your 
unflinching devotion to duty.” 

“ I am going to turn duty into another channel, and 
see how the stream will flow.” 

“ The New Bethesda will give you clear sight. Even 
our eyes are touched by strabismus when we are sur- 
rounded for too long a period by the same scenes. I 
have been trying to show Maud that she owes a duty 
to herself.” 

“ If you have made her see it, father,” said Eich- 
mond, “ you can be set down as a miracle-worker. I 
wanted her with me in Chautauqua last summer, but 
she was as firm as the hills. Old lady Welch was 
likely to die, and Maud must crucify herself all sum- 
mer, out of a mistaken sense of duty.” 


EVENTFUL YEARS. 


263 


I see, dear brother, because I must. In fact, I am 
alarmed at my condition, — not my health, that is 
stable, but my sight. Oh, Kich, I mean the vision 
of thought and feeling ! ” 

Look here. Sis. If you ride Pegasus in your ser-. 
mons at the speed you are going this evening, I 
don’t wonder those Edenville folks stick to their 
own whims. They can’t understand you. Go afoot 
awhile, and I should n’t be surprised if even some of 
those heedless young people would follow right after 
and maybe catch up with you.” 

I do go afoot. There was never a humbler dis- 
ciple of the Nazareiie. My whole soul is aflame with 
desire to follow him.” 

^^Get a ^ whole soul aflame’ and it will burn up. 
That is what ails you. You have agonized and de- 
sired, and dug up your beans Hunting for the sprouts, 
until you’re more a ghost than a live woman. It 
takes time to make a saint out of common material. 
It won’t do to set up your double-reflned Eaynor 
conscience, for a pattern for everybody.” 

Oh, Eich, a greater than the Eaynor conscience 
has been set for our pattern ! I go to the great head 
of the Church for the true example. I hide myself 
in him.” 

“ All right. But just now you need to hide in the 
woods around the New Bethesda. I ’m glad you are 
going. I ’ll turn you into a flrst-class tramp before 
school-time again.” 

Oh, Eichmond ! ” 

Yes ; we ’ll climb the hills to Shaker-town without 
fatigue, reinforced by the New Bethesda. That ’s the 


264 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

kind of tramp I mean. Oh, no, you need not sleep 
in the woods, or beg cold food. Though I not 
sure but it would do you good to sleep in the woods. 
A bed of spruce and all out-of-doors for breathing- 
room will do wonders in making tired students over 
new.’’ 

In this gay mood the Eaynors make ready for the 
early train. But little preparation is required. Their 
housekeeping is orderly, and all have seasonable and 
abundant clothing. 

They go by the way of Chautauqua, and see the 
boys, who are so full of the interesting life there that 
they are not tempted by the invitation to take the 
longer journey. 

“ The same, and yet not the same,” says Mrs. Kay- 
nor. Here is the Spring, but the band does not 
startle the echoes in its welcome to each home-coming 
coach. And that is not Ealph Wentworth. Oh, yes ; 
of course the water is just as refreshing whether it is 
mixed with sentiment or common fact. Ealph has 
gone into business ; I knew that. I did not expect 
to see Arena’s boys. I have kept up the secret teleg- 
raphy. Paul and Flint are allowed to preach now ; 
only think of it ! They seemed half-grown boys four 
years ago. But here are the stable old faces, — Mr. 
Eossville unchanged, and Mrs. Lincoln not a day 
older. And here is Eichard guarding the elevator; 
not a happier face anywhere. ^ Always room for the 
Eaynors.’ I knew there would be. What a swarming 
hive the New Bethesda House is ! ” 

“ Did you see the improvements, mother ? ” 

I saw nothing but rushing waves of people. I ’m 


EVENTFUL YEARS. 


265 


going down to see. This is a charming room ; morn- 
ing sunshine. I shall like it.’’ 

The large fireplaces with their ornamental tiles 
seem ah unnecessary piece of decoration on this hot 
August night; but they have a purpose. The New 
Bethesda House is to be kept open as an autumn 
resort. One can make a long season now, from June 
until November ; and the Old Stage Tavern keeps up 
its name and character by affording rest and shelter 
the year round. 

Oh, where are the familiar faces ? ” says Mrs. 
Kaynor, as the four pass from office to Music Hall. A 
fine orchestra has taken the place of the brass band. 
Exquisite music — music to satisfy the artist— vibrates 
through the spacious hall each day. It is not Mr. 
Marshall at the piano ; no, a stranger, — one of the 
orchestra. How elegantly everybody is attired ! 
Diamonds sparkle like rain-drops on an April day.” 

The guests seem to be pleasure-seekers, — the rich 
and care-free, who seek the springs and the mountains 
in summer. There is a large sprinkling of young 
people and children. Evidently families come to- 
gether, without the special propelling need which 
sent ’Squire Kaynor to the Old Stage Tavern twelve 
years before. If any are ill, the angel-haunted pool 
and the refreshing fare of the New Bethesda House 
have obliterated all outward signs. Portly and well- 
kept men, and care-free women who are clothed like 
queens, jostle the Kaynors in the halls and about the 
wide piazzas. They look up occasionally for the 
recognition of a familiar face ; but most of these per- 
petual motions are the figures of people whom they 


266 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

know not. Looking down the tree-shaded way toward 
the Old Stage Tavern, Maud sees two young ladies 
walking briskly, and at once is sure they are Susie and 
Helen. The difference in height and the vigorous 
gait cannot be mistaken. She breaks away from the 
marching column, dropping Eichmond’s arm, and 
hastens to meet them. 

‘^Well, I should think this was deserting a fellow 
in a strange crowd ! Has Maud started for Shaker 
Village ? ” 

She sees the Eossville young ladies, and has gone 
down the walk to meet them.” 

^^Take my arm, mother, and shelter me. I ’m afraid 
of — all these people. Have n’t you and father spoken 
of Miss Helen’s beauty ? ” 

“Yes, she is a very noticeable girl, — statuesque, 
father calls her, — with dreamy eyes and a pleasant 
face.” 

“ I suppose Maud will bring her right here.” 

Don’t be afraid, Eichmond. There are lovely 
girls in Meadowville.” 

“ I won’t look at them for ten years yet, mother.” 

“I thought you were looking quite approvingly on 
the little wood-nymph from Harrisville.” 

“ Oh, I glory in her persistence. She is determined 
to have an education, and she works for it in ways 
that would frighten most young ladies. She and her 
brother drive eight or ten miles before most of us are 
out of bed, keep their places in the class, — near the 
very first scholars, too, — then drive home again at 
evening.” 

“That is noble, Eichmond, — a perseverance that 


EVENTFUL YEAKS. 


267 


wins in the march of life. I am glad you appreciate 
Plossie Whitney. There are not many like her. I 
have learned to love the girls through Maud’s interest 
in Bessie.” 

“ She is not a beauty as the world reckons beauty, 
but she is true and strong. They are almost here. 
How Maud chatters 1 She is getting the cobwebs off 
her sight already.” 

, Maud brings the young ladies to greet her father 
and mother, and as Bichmond has grown from boy- 
hood to the stature of a man, she introduces him. He 
does not seem embarrassed, but talks easily, like one 
accustomed to society. The young Misses Eossville 
have come to see their father, who makes his home now 
at the New Bethesda House. They soon excuse them- 
selves, and go to seek him. The Eaynors pass in to 
supper. Here they see familiar faces among the 
waiter-girls, many of whom come year after year to 
this spot, where the toil is earnest and exacting, but 
where there are large opportunities. To the observ- 
ing, it is a school for character study, and many a 
lesson in Christian ethics is unconsciously given here. 
Mr. Gaston fills the large hall with his ubiquitous 
serenity, and even the rattle of the china is softened 
by looking upon his face. He remembers old visitors, 
and gives the Eaynors a favorable place for observa- 
tion. . Susie and Helen come in presently, and sit at 
the family table. Mrs. Eaynor sees a figure far down 
the hall strikingly like Mr. Marshall, whom she had 
thought summering in Europe. 

Maud, did n’t you tell me Mr. Marshall was going 
abroad this year ? ” 


268 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Yes, mother ; that was my last word from him. 
A rich parishioner wished him to accompany his young 
son.’^ 

He is in this hall, or I am greatly mistaken.’^ 

Perhaps he is. 

‘ The best laid plans o’ mice and men 
Gang aft a-gley.’ 

Let us go down to the Spring just as soon as we leave 
the table. You will come with me quickly, won’t you, 
Eich ? ” 

“ Lunch-baskets and railway eating-rooms have not 
prepared me to leave this table quickly, Maud.” 

I shall go alone, then ; and I am ready now. 
Meet me there, please.” And Maud hastens away. 

hope Mr. Marshall’s presence is not going to 
wreck Maud’s summer,” says Mrs. Eaynor, as they 
follow her down the walk. 

“ Why does not Maud make an end of the Marshall 
romance ? ” said Mr. Eaynor. She says she does 
not love him. They have been corresponding at long 
intervals these four years.” 

He interests her. It is the kind of coquetry going 
on between the two denominations which they repre- 
sent. They have many things in common, and there 
is great mutual attraction, but no sign of coalescence.” 

. “The relations between them are a study in 
psychology ! ” 

“ Why not call it friendship ? Can a man and 
woman have no friendly relations ? ” said Eichmond. 

“We might call it friendship, Eichmond, if he had 
not talked of marriage.” 


EVENTFUL YEARS. 


269 


“ The marriage failed to. come to time, and the in- 
terest continues. I think it never was anything but 
friendship/^ 

Yes ; the interest continues and the solution 
waits.^’ 

“ I am glad it waits,’’ said ’Squire Kaynor. “ Let 
us forget it.” 

“ How can we, with the parties in such proximity as 
a summer hotel affords ? ” 

“ Find our interest in other directions, Katy.” 

I don’t see but we must find our interest in each 
other. The Wentworths and Winterses are not here.” 

“New people will dawn upon us, and maybe old 
ones return. I am sorry about Mr. Winters.” 

“He may be well enough to come later in the 
season.” 

“ Mr. Kossville says the news from him is very dis- 
couraging. He has not seen a moment free from 
pain, and he was taken sick in May. The only respite 
he has is through the effect of anodynes.” 

“ What a story of suffering that tells, — not of him 
alone, but of poor Cornelia.” 

“ She impressed me as a woman who had suffered 
about enough.” 

“God knows how many stripes each child of His 
can bear, and how many he needs.” 

“You don’t think Mrs. Winters a marked candidate 
for Divine discipline, do you, Katy ? ” 

“^Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and 
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.’ Cornelia 
has some work to do for which all these vales of Baca 
are preparing her.” 


270 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

I should like to see her have a little rest.” 

^^You never wil], Charles, until the hands are 
folded in the last rest. It is the lot of some people 
to be care-bearers in one way or another. She has 
never had children; but you can see that she gives 
Mr. Winters more care than some mothers give to a 
whole family.’’ 

‘‘That comes naturally. Winters has been sick a 
great deal. He has told me how many times his 
wings had been clipped by sudden attacks of sickness 
in various forms. All through his early years he was 
trembling on the verge of consumption. Then came 
the trouble which these waters healed, and the last 
time we met him here he was yellow with malaria. 
Now, Rossville tells me, he is whittled down to a 
skeleton by sheer pain, and likely to be a cripple if 
he lives.” 

“He will have plenty of canes to lean on; he 
was always whittling canes. And one day when We 
laughed at him about it, Mrs. Winters said he could 
not see a pretty stick without wanting to make a 
cane of it. He finishes them with fancy heads and 
the brightest varnish when he gets home. And then 
all his friends are giving him canes, too. She said 
he had one made of a whale’s tooth and ornamented 
with the black bone ; one of the bread-tree, with ivory 
head ; one of wood grown on Mt. Olivet ; one of the 
window-sill of the old Hancock house, headed with 
gold ; and one of Perry’s flag-ship which was sunk 
on Lake Erie. A famous nephew of his sawed the 
wood under water when he was but fourteen years 
old, and before divers’ apparatus was known.” 


EVENTFUL YEARS. 


271 


we should see this propensity in a child, we 
should call it an indicator of destiny.’’ 

I suppose that is what it means in IVTr. IV^inters. 
He is going to be lame and need the canes. Oh, 
Charles, don’t you whittle another cane as long as 
you live ! To see you limping on a crutch or a cane 
would break my heart ! ” 

“ I suppose Mrs. Winters has said that very thing. 
Women are always breaking their hearts. But she 
will have to live and bear it; and so would you, 
Katy, if such a misfortune should come to me.” 

It will be hard for Cornelia. She is proud of the 
fine physique and erect carriage of her husband. I 
have heard her say she always looked after him with 
admiration when he went down the street, and there 
was no gentleman so fine as to eclipse him.” 

What worship we receive ! I wish I could believe 
we always deserve it.” 

How did Mr. Marshall pass us ? There he is 
under the oaks, talking with Maud ! ” 

He must have gone through the woods at Jehu 
speed to reach the Spring before us. I know we left 
him in the dining-hall.” 

We have loitered, Charles, talking of our interest- 
ing friends. He might have gone through the short 
wood-path without running.” 

^^Maud belongs to me during this vacation,” said 
Kichmond, ^^and I am going straight to her. Let us 
all go ; ” and the Eaynors seat themselves under the 
shadowy oaks. The water-boy has gone to supper, 
and Mr. Marshall, with a grace altogether winning, 
brings the shining glass in the silver receiver. They 


272 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

talk of many things while caressing the delicate 
tumblers.” 

‘^Charles, these pretty shells are made to order; 
see ! There is some kind of design on them.” Mrs. 
Raynor tries to decipher the faint tracery in the gath- 
ering twilight. Mr. Marshall has seen them before, 
and comes to her assistance. 

“ The face is that of Dr. Eossville, the man whose 
faith is centred in the New Bethesda; and on the 
reverse side is the Spring house, with the trees 
about it. 


NOT A SPECTACLE FOR CRITICISM. 273 


CHAPTER XXY. 

NOT A SPECTACLE FOR CRITICISM. 

F rom her sunny, window Mrs. Raynor saw Dr. 

Rossville creeping feebly along, and was startled 
at his changed aspect. The years had written indeli- 
ble lines on face and form. He seemed like one whom 
some great sorrow had aged prematurely, and Kate 
remembered the bowed form down by the lake on the' 
morning when the shadow settled over all the hill, 
from the sudden death of Mrs. Rossville. That vision 
of the strong man stricken by grief had become the 
abiding presence. The vigor of past years had de- 
parted, and henceforth he must lean on his staff as 
he passed toward the sunset. Mrs. Raynor went down 
to the piazza, sure she should meet him there. He 
had walked to the Spring, and was wearily resting in a 
shady corner. The morning was warm, and it was not 
altogether the weakness of age that had overcome him. 

I know you,’^ he said, as she drew near, — 
^Hhe ’Squire’s wife, from Pennsylvania. You find it 
changed here. Ellison has put up new buildings, so 
as to get more chambers, and places for play-rooms. 
The barns, too, are all made over ; and nobody can 
say the office is small now. Do you like the fire- 
places ? Everybody does who was brought up in the 
country.” 


274 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

^^Yesj we think it grows more and more charming 
here/’ 

“It’s a great place, — a great place! We can’t 
begin to keep all the folks who come.” 

“ Yon have an elegant company now. The women 
look like queens.” 

“ There are bankers here, so rich they can’t reckon 
their money, — folks from New York that you read 
about in the newspapers.” 

“ I don’t see any sick people this year.” 

“ They mostly stay down to the old' house ; but 
some of ’em here are sick enough, only they don’t 
show it. You see they flesh right up as soon as they 
begin to drink the water.” 

“ Anything new in your family. Doctor ? ” 

“Albert’s married. That’s the best news I can 
tell ye. But Ellison, — well, he seems friendly to 
everybody, but he don’t fall in love.” 

“ He has too much care of this great house full of 
strangers, to give any time to love.” 

“i^o, he has time enough. It ain’t that. But I 
half suspect there ’s so many girls settin’ their caps 
for him, he ’s got kind of sick of women. I suppose, 
between you and me, Sicily did court Ellison right 
smart. I reckon I ’m to blame for it. I liked Sicily. 
I should n’t wonder if she tries it again. She ’s lost 
her husband. He was an awful dig. He worked him- 
self to death trying to get rich farming. I ’ve asked 
Sicily to come and rest here awhile. She’s had a 
hard time.” 

“ Has she any children ? ” 

“ Noj both of ’em died. Too much hard work.” 


NOT A SPECTACLE FOR CRITICISM. 275 

‘^She lias seen trouble in her ^hort married 
life.’’ 

Yes. Did you bring your children this time ? ” 

Our daughter, and our son Eichmond.” 

Maud learned to be a minister, if I remember 
rightly. How does she get on ? ” 

''As bravely as a man. She is a faithful and con- 
scientious worker.” 

" It ’s a little too hard for a woman, — too pes- 
terin’.” 

" Do you think it a more severe life than Sicily’s ? ” 

" Hot such slavin’ ; but more folks to please.” 

" The true minister tries to do the pleasure of his 
Master, and expects his people to conform their pleas- 
ure to the high standards.” 

" Yes ; but they won’t. They ’ll get crossways and 
find fault if he don’t come to see ’em every time 
they’re sick, whether he knows it or not. Why, 
there’s the ’Squire ! You look well. Been well ever 
since you was here the first time ? ” 

" Yes ; the New Bethesda has touched me with 
enduring vigor. T was never better. Katy, will you 
come with me and read the letters ? Maud and Eich- 
mond ’ have gone off on a tramp, perhaps to Shaker 
Village.” 

" The day is too warm for so long a walk.” 

" Maybe they ’ll find an ox-team on the way. They 
won’t run any risks. Don’t worry, Katy.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Eaynor seek the coolness of the 
pines, where easy chairs are placed at convenient in- 
tervals, and a high-backed rocker and swaying ham- 
mock furnish them comfortable resting-places in 


276 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


wliicli to read the Western mail. The boys are having 
,a delightful time at Chautauqua, and Alex and his 
family an outing at the Thousand Islands. There is 
no near occasion for an anxious thought. They read 
on, laughing and commenting over the boyish expres- 
sions from Willie and Fred, and the longing love of 
old friends who miss them in absence. 

You are keeping something back, Charles. What 
is it ? 

“ I suspect a letter from Gertrude. It was mailed 
in San Francisco.’^ 

^^How she has hidden herself away! Not a word 
since the visit at Meadowville, except the little letter 
announcing her safe arrival home.” 

She has been busy working out her salvation, I 
presume.” 

^‘Oh, Charles, I hope it is calm seas at last! Ger- 
trude’s buffetings have been beyond reason.” 

“A strange network of circumstances enclosing an 
innocent person ! A shadow over so bright a life, — it 
is, indeed, hard to understand.” 

!&ead the letter, Charles, or pass it to me. We 
have been with her in the valley ; God grant she may 
have found the safe hills ere this.” 

It is a brief letter : — 

“ We are coming East to stay. Our affairs are fast being 
settled, and then Boston or some other Eastern city must 
make a place for us. I hope to see you before the season 
ends, in our beechen chair close to the long path, that I may 
tell you the sequel where I had to reveal the beginnings. 
California friends have telegraphed me that you are sum- 
mering at the New Bethesda.” 


NOT A SPECTACLE FOE CRITICISM. 277 

'‘Then there are California people here. Let us 
look over the books, find them out, and make their 
acquaintance. I can hardly wait for Gertrude to tell 
me the sequel.^’ 

"You don’t suppose anything has been made pub- 
lic, do you, Katy ? ” 

"Well, — no, of course not, now I think of it. Ger- 
trude would keep her trouble to herself, and certainly 
Robert would not care to tell. I presume she has 
never spoken to any one on the face of the earth but 
me. She could hardly help speaking. We saw every- 
thing, and poor Gerty needed a friend.” 

" I am glad we counselled forbearance and patient 
waiting when she came to us four years ago deter- 
mined to seek a divorce.” 

"But oh, Charles, we needed reinforcement from 
the heavenly forbearance to give her such counsel! 
Her provocation was unparalleled. She believed Rob- 
ert had thoroughly repented and was all her own 
when she went that long journey and made her home 
with him among strangers. You know she said she 
must slay her last doubt before she could marry him. 
That she married him proves her utter confidence. 
How she lingered over the sweet first year of their 
wedded life ! She could not bear to leave it and tell 
us of what followed. How she must have felt when 
she read Minnie Swan’s letter, and found she had set- ' 
tied right there in the city, not two miles off I ” 

" Pretty tough place for a wife. I can fancy how 
my Katy would feel if in clearing up my desk she 
came across sentimental letters from some girl, — let- 
ters, too, adroitly phrased to call out an answer.” 


278 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

Minnie was a wife, and her sin the greater. She 
was kindling fires- for her own head, and that is 
what people always do who do wrong. <With what 
measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.’ 
I think the hardest place for Gertrude was not when 
she found the letters and knew that Kobert was keep- 
ing up a correspondence with Minnie, but when the 
servant was too ill to go and she had to tush out after 
a doctor for her baby, and met them riding. I don’t 
see how she ever got home ; and I don’t wonder the 
baby died. The shock she received was communi- 
cated to the poor little life in some mysterious way, 
I have no doubt. And when she spoke to Eobert and 
he excused it in such a humanitarian way, half dull- 
ing the arrow of her distrust, — ^ Minnie was having 
a hard time ; they were very poor ; young French 
found it impossible to obtain a support in his busi- 
ness ; she had no recreation, and she had always had 
such a care-free life, he took her to ride out of pity, 
and he wrote to her occasionally to brace her up, — 
encourage her to be brave, and better days would 
surely come ! ’ ” 

“ It did not take a bright woman like Gertrude very 
long to understand that humanitarian service did not 
require sentimental letters, nor the cost of a carriage 
while she stayed at home with a sick baby. ‘The 
arrow of her distrust,’ as you call it, dulled for the 
moment, returned with a sharper thrust after a time of 
. sensible reflection.” 

“ That Eobert Nickerson did these things under 
cover was rather a condemning commentary on his 
humanitarian designs. When the seventh wave rolled 


NOT A SPECTACLE FOR CRITICISM. 279 

over Gertrude, it is not at all surprising that she 
started East like a wounded thing, to seek the law’s 
redress at the hand of an old friend. She thought she 
had buried her trust beyond resurrection. Oh, the very 
thought of what she suffered before she reached this 
extremity of pain breaks my heart ! ” 

Suffering breeds suffering, Katy. If there could 
be some way by which the sinners could be shut up 
with the consequences of their own misdeeds without 
dragging innocent people into the net, I should be 
glad.” 

Yes, Charles, suffering breeds suffering, — and that 
poor Nickerson found out when his house was left 
unto him desolate. What a shock it must have been 
to him ! Gertrude gone, he knew not where ; but he 
knew why. Don’t you think that shock did more to 
bring him to himself than anything else ? ” 

Yes, doubtless, provided he has come to himself.” 

^^They are living together and coming East together. 
Gertrude would never have endured another year of 
torture. That they are living together, proves that he 
has come to himself.” 

^^It is quite time he carried on his humanitarian 
work in ways where Gertrude can go hand in hand 
with him.” 

See how the people are gathering on the piazza ! 
A photographer ! Let us be of the number who tell 
the world of this restful and invigorating place. We 
were in such haste to read our letters that we left Dr. 
Eossville somewhat suddenly.” 

He would understand it ; though I suppose he 
never learned by experience what it is to be seven hun- 


280 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

died miles away from home. All the people here are 
eager for their letters. They watch the delivery very 
closely, and seem to count the moments to mail-time.’’ 

Mr. -Eossville is having views taken of the place 
from every locality, outside and in ; is he not ? ” 

Yes. People hear about the Spring, but have no 
idea of this beautiful setting of lakes and hills. Mr. 
Winters told me he brought a brother minister here 
to pass his vacation. He was a lover of charming 
natural scenery, and when he reached the height on 
which the Hew Bethesda stands he was quite over- 
whelmed by the unexpected view. ‘ Why did n’t you 
tell me, Eaynold ? ’ he exclaimed; ‘I didn’t dream of 
such an enchanting panorama! Those circling hills 
rising tier on tier above the sparkling lakes, — it is an 
amphitheatre unsurpassed on this continent! You 
ought to have prepared me. The surprise is too great 
for tired nerves ! ’ Winters said all the loiterers about 
the piazzas were attracted by his exclamations, and at 
once he was a marked man, — the man of the eloquent 
tongue.” 

‘‘ Let us stand at the very front, Charles ; I want to 
be distinguishable.” 

“You will be. There is good light this morning. 
Did you observe Eichmond and Maud on the upper 
balcony ? They, too, will be of the number who speak 
praises.” 

“Yes; and I observed Mr. Marshall pressing forward, 
evidently to stand with them.” 

“ Eichmond will keep his word. He will take care of 
Maud. I have heard him say he had seen only one 
man whom he would be willing to have Maud marry.” 


NOT A SPECTACLE FOR CRITICISM. 281 


''1 suppose that is dear old Professor Wright. 
Kichmond thinks him a perfect man.’^ 

Why ^ old Professor ’ ? He is scarcely thirty ’’ 
^|He seems so wise, and has had his honored chair 
so long, one naturally counts him old.’^ 

“He was there during Maud’s course, and Eiehmond 
says they are never alone that he does not speak of 
her in some appreciative way. He has made interested 
inquiries about her success in her profession; and 
when Rich told him that great crowds followed her, 
that the church was full to the door, but she was dis- 
couraged because she could not convert them all in a 
year, he said, ‘Miss Maud is so much an angel she 
will be disappointed in all common people.’ ” 

“That is interesting, Charles. Why did you not 
tell me before ? 

I thought you knew, — that Pich had told you.’^ 

“ He never told me that. He has praised the Pro- 
fessor to the skies, and I know they pass all their 
leisure together, and that Maud comes in now and then 
as an object of interest; but the ^angeP estimate is 
quite new to me.” 


It is your own estimate, Katy.” 

^^Yes, Maud is an angel in sweetness of tem- 
per. Hot many.young ladies have such perfect self- 
control. I have not seen her ruffled or heard an 
unpleasant word from her lips since she was fourteen 
years old.” 

“What peaceful paths she will make for her feet 
because of this spiritual victory ! When we think of 
the hurts and aches that come from ungoverned tem- 
per, of how a home is overshadowed by even one soul 


282 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

out of tune, we have reason to think the angel estimate 
rightly applied in Maud’s case.” 

As Mr. and Mrs. Eaynor leave the multitude for 
that communion apart so needed for the reinforcement 
of inward strength, Maud and Richmond follow them. 

Richmond and I cannot settle an important ques- 
tion, and I come for advice. Mrs. Bolton and others 
of the Church of the Ancient Brotherhood are urging 
me to conduct the service in the Music Hall on Sun- 
dav evening. Mr. Winters i§ not here, and there 
seems to be a dearth of ministers. Mrs. Lincoln also 
urges me strongly. Shall I consent ? ” 

It seems’ such a company of pleasure-seekers, my 
daughter, I fear you would not have the sympathetic 
attention needed to make the service helpful in the 
highest degree.” . 

“ I do not know as one could expect that, father, in 
an audience of every faith and no faith, and from all 
parts of the country, too.” 

“ Would any but the really religious, those desiring 
the spiritual influence of the service, go into the 
hall?” said Mrs. Raynor. 

^‘Judging from my brief experience and obseryation, 
many would attend out of curiosity. In this fact lies 
one of the advantages of a woman ministry. The 
people come and hear. Various motives attract them. 
But if the truth is presented in winning fashion, some 
who come to scoff will go away to pray.” 

‘‘I tell Maud I want Marshall to hear her. He 
will then.be able to see how much of a bird he tried 
to crowd back into its shell ; but I recoil from seeing 
my sister the target for all these critical eyes.” 


NOT A SPECTACLE FOR CRITICISM. 283 

One who takes up the Master’s work must not 
think of critical eyes. The work, and how to do it ac- 
ceptably to him, should absorb every thought. His 
blessing. cannot descend in its fulness while we are 
thinking what people will say about us. I doubt if 
we ought ever to discuss the width of the open door, 
as we are now discussing it. The call, ^ Go work to-day 
in my vineyard,^ should receive hearty answer, without 
fear of the faces of men.’^ 

“The faces of men are not the ones to be afraid of. 
Woman is woman’s severest critic,” said Eichmond. 
“We learned that in our co-education college.” 

“ I do not think of it as a spectacle for criticism, 
but an opportunity for service,” said Maud. “We 
remember how all the hotel toiled as with one heart 
when we wanted to help Lily Tarleton. There was 
no adverse criticism.” 

“ It has outgrown the family ideal now ; and such a 
union of sentiment would hardly be possible.” 

“You forget how the money was poured out last 
Sunday evening for the poor student. Oh, father, 
there are hearts under all these elegant vestments ! ” 
“Well, my daughter, your own judgment should de- 
cide. You will have hearty sympathy from a few, per- 
haps enough to create the uplifting wave which makes 
a religious service helpful in the highest ways.” 

“ I must not expect even the reward of sympathy. 
The office of servant is sufficient satisfaction when we 
consider whom we serve. Our adorable King is the 
love-centre of all worlds. In doing his bidding we 
pour our little all into the redemptive currents which 
alone can unify and satisfy the race.” 


284 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


CHAPTER XXYI. 

TO EACH HIS PORTION. 

XE of tlie attractive features of the Xew Be- 



thesda House to such humanitarians as the 


Raynors, is the evident interest in those wha help the 
revolution of all the wheels of service both great and 
small. Week-evening pastimes and Sunday meetings 
are not provided for the guests alone. 

They were glad to hear that Mr. Gaston was tak- • 
ing on the office of minister, for which his long course 
of study had prepared him. The services in the helps^ 
dining-room were free to all, and many of the guests 
attended them. It was a source of spiritual refreshing 
to sing the Gospel Hymns, and listen to the carefully- 
prepared sermons of the young minister. Some of the 
waiter-girls had delightful voices, and the quality of 
the singing was an attraction. Often ministerial 
guests assisted Mr. Gaston, so that he was able to keep 
up the services with great regularity both afternoon 
and evening. 

The Music Hall, and the dining-room converted for 
the time into a chapel, afforded opportunity for re- 
ligious worship, ample and varied enough to meet the 
needs of all. If the bulletin board on Sunday morn- 
ing contained the name of a speaker whom any num- 


TO EACH HIS PORTION. 


285 


ber of the guests declined to hear, Mr. Gaston was al- 
ways interesting, and a welcome awaited them in the 
improvised chapel. The Raynors had attended the 
afternoon services in this chapel several times, and 
Kichmond had said, m his talk with Maud, — 

Nobody need go hungry if you do preside ^t the gos- 
pel feast, and there is solemn objection at being served 
by a woman. The familiar face at the other table 
will give everybody a home-feeling; and Mr. Gaston 
IS as gracious and as much at ease as in the great 
dining-hall feeding ordinary hunger. * There is plenty 
of room, and the guests can choose for themselves.’^ 

In this way he had helped Maud to see that she 
would not be a stumbling-block to even the weakest 
soul ; and she had no other fear. 

The fine orchestra and commodious Music Hall 
were to be at the disposal of the help on a certain 
evening, and many of the guests were present to see 
them come in. And though only the dance-loving 
portion availed themselves of this opportunity, leav- 
ing Mr. Gaston’s audience out altogether, there seemed 
an army of them, sufficient to take possession of a 
much larger place. 

Mr. Eossville looked after everything, determined 
to make the occasion pleasant to his many helpers. 
It was a surprise to those who never look behind the 
scenes, that, so many busy hands are needed in minis- 
tering to the daily wants in one summer home. As the 
young men and maidens marched around the hall, all 
eyes followed them, trying to indentify faces that had 
become familiar ; and if many such were absent, it was 
understood that the religious interest awakened by 


286 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


Mr. Gaston’s meetings had made them look upon their 
Sunday privilege as sufficient. 

Passing from the hall after a few minutes’ observa- 
tion, the Eaynors find an opportunity of speaking 
with busy Mr. Eossville. Through him they hear 
that Mr, Winters is better, and has written for a 
room. 

I hate to, send him word that we are full ; but all 
the side offices have been converted into chambers, 
and we put up cots by the dozen in the halls every 
night.” 

‘‘ Charles, can’t we double up in some way so as to 
accommodate them ? They have had an awful sum- 
mer. Cornelia must be worn out by this time.” 

Any arrangement you can make will suit me.” 

“Some of this crowd must leave soon,” says Mr. 
Eossville ; “ there will be a thinning out the first of 
September.” 

“ But that is two weeks ahead,” says Mrs. Eaynor. 
“The Winters need the change as they never needed 
it before. Flint Wentworth has written me that his 
uncle is reduced to a skeleton by sheer pain. We all 
want to help him, I know.” 

“That is true,” said Mr. Eossville, “but I cannot. 
I have already given up my room.” 

“We will give up one of ours,” says Mrs. Eaynor. 

“ Yes, mother ; if Mr. Eossville will give me a cot 
for the little alcove in your room, we can improvise 
curtains, and the Winters shall have my room.” 

“Then I see nothing to hinder me from sending 
them favorable word.” 

“Yes, telegraph, Mr. Eossville. We want to see 


TO EACH HIS POKTION. 


287 


them, and more, we want to do something to smooth 
them way after the anguish they have endured. For 
their own sake, — ah, yes ; and in memory of Arena 
Kemington,” said Mrs. Raynor, as she turned away. 

When Richmond was brought into the counsel, he 
said the minister of Edenville should not sleep on a 
cot while he had a bed ; and the best way to arrange 
for their friends and for themselves was for Maud 
and . mother to occupy one room, while such capital 
chums as he and father could take the other, without 
the faintest danger of a quarrel. 

^^Oh, to be unselfish and sweet and gracious is to 
possess a large room in the kingdom of heaven ! 
exclaimed Maud. 

This is a cool, clear day for walking, and we ought 
to finish our long pedestrian excursions before the' 
Winters c'ome.” 

Why before the Winters come, Katy ? ” 

“We want to pass as much time as we can with 
them before other urgent needs press upon us ; and, 
Charles, Mr. Winters is lame.’^ 

“ I cannot realize it. Of course he will be weak, 
and unable to make much exertion. Where shall we 
go?” 

“ I want to see the heart that sends its pulses 
through the iron pipes in such audible beats that it 
seems to be an omniscient heart. You said it was a 
mile or two away. It always seems to be at my very 
feet as I go down to the Spring. One lady was fright- 
ened as she heard the beats for the first time, and 
looked about her for some live thing, breathing and 


288 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

panting. She never dreamed that the throb was only 
an echo from the engine down by the lake.’^ 

The suggestion of the telephone is in those iron 
water-pipes. What tuns of water are pressed daily 
into t^e New Bethesda House, — - lake water, besides 
the New Bethesda itself, carefully hoarded in tank 
and ^ Moses ’ ! ’’ 

The Baynors had been a little clannish, and Maud 
began to realize it. To explore every corner of forest, 
lake, and copse with Eichmond had given her the 
rest she needed, and now her wide sympathies were 
beginning to assert themselves. 

There are real interesting people at our table, and 
I would like to ask them. They are great walkers, and 
will be glad to go with us,^^ she said to her parents, 
who responded heartily, remembering how closely 
they had clung together, without the usual overflow 
of cordial fellowship. So the Marcys and Pears 
were invited to take the long path down to Fountain 
Head, as they chose to call the lake which supplied 
the hotel. 

As soon as the dew dried off the grass, equipped 
with alpenstocks, like mountain climbers, they 
started. Eichmond led; and where the low limbs 
interlocked across the narrow way, he held them apart 
with great ceremony for each pedestrian to pass. 
There was nearly a mile of woods in this roundabout 
way, and a most delightful seclusion. The shadows 
were so dense from the interlacing trees, that 
scarcely a ray of sunlight could penetrate them. Mrs. 
Eaynor stopped often to gather some familiar plant 
or vine which had charmed the days of her youthful 


TO EACH HIS PORTION. 


289 

rambles in old Pennsylvania, glad to note the simi- 
larity, while she rejoiced in the greater luxuriance of 
the warmer latitude. The New York friends proved 
able to wrestle with the undergrowth, and trip from 
rock to rook when they arrived at the stony portions 
of the old road. 

^‘ThiS IS the road over which we jolted, Katy, 
twelve years ago. It is a bed of jagged rocks. How 
utterly impassable it looks, now that the storms of 
years have washed away the soil, and rent and gullied 
it ! 

“Did you ever see telegraph-posts set in that way, 
Charles ? They seem to stand on the ground sup- 
ported by mounds of rocks.’^ 

''A good way to utilize the rocks. Hew England 
is rock-ribbed and rock-bound. If the West had been 
settled first, who would ever have been brave enough 
to attempt to dig a living out of this soil ? 

The Yankee has other ways of living,” said Mrs. 
Marcy. ''He has the sea and its commerce, and the 
gains of his genius and enterprise, Mr. Kaynor.” 

“ Yes, I realize that, Mrs. Marcy ; but the soil is 
terribly forbidding. Though of course I know it is 
not all so sterile as this rocky old road.^^ 

They pass the new highway from Kingdom Station 
to the Hew Bethesda, over which thousands of tour- 
ists are transported in the old stage-coach, and along 
a grassy field skirted by pines. Then, entering a pine 
forest, they soon come to the border of the lake which 
supplies the hotel. Mrs. Raynor satisfies her curiosity 
by looking at the engine from the embankment. The 
many steps down to the plane of the lake are formi- 
19 


290 THE KOMANCE OF THE HEW BETHESDA. 

dable after so long a walk. After resting on conven- 
ient benches under the pines, they prolong their walk 
to the lake where the steamer plies for the pleasure 
of the guests. This lake is bordered by trees, in 
picturesque fashion, and Maud is sure no lakes made 
famous by Sir Walter were ever more entrancmg. 

have had Europe and the New Bethesda too, 
dear father. Here are my Scottish lakes ; I can 
people the hills about them with Eoderick’s clan if 
I covet the element of terror. And, what is better, 
the grim old ocean does not lie between me and my 
little flock, — between me and my home.’’ 

“ If we follow loving desire we find all places peo- 
pled according to our wish. What young lady could 
conjure up Scottish chiefs for company or terror, who 
has been guarded by a Knight of the Eound Table ? ” 

‘‘ Thank you, Richmond. You have kept your prom- 
ise, and the end is not yet. I expect the attendance 
of Sir Knight until I am in the world of work once 
more.” 

I desire nothing better, especially as you can fly 
the balls with the bravest in the bowling-alley or on 
the croquet and tennis grounds. It is a grand thing 
for a girl to cultivate her muscle.” 

<^Now that I am rested, Richmond, I want to see 
more of the Rossville girls. I have always passed 
much of my time with them.” 

‘^Then we shall have to part. You know I’m 
afraid of girls; and — Miss Helen reminds me of 
Flossie Whitney. And — my mother shall not have 
to sleep three weeks of her summer vacation again, 
just because one of her boys has left her.” 


TO EACH HIS PORTION. 


291 


Oh, Rich, are you really so susceptible ? We had 
a young minister here once who was just like that; 
but he did not avoid the girls for fear he should 
fall in love with them. By the ’way, mother, Mrs. 
Lincoln told me Mr. Hammond is married and has 
two children. He forgot the blond lady, and married 
the black eyes which he said he preferred.’’ 

He knew well enough the blond lady’s heart was 
not her own, even though the clouds frowned above 
her sunny head.” 

We ought to have visited this spot by moonlight, 
Katy, to enjoy its extreme witchery. I wish you 
liked the water well enough to take a voyage on this 
awaiting steamer.” 

I can imagine the moonlight sail, the music of the 
band, and the delight of the company. I wanted to 
see Dr. Rossville’s fulfilled prophecy ; that is pleasure 
enough, without tempting the heart of these plaeid 
waters into frothy rebellion at the wound of the 
steamer’s keel for my sake.” 

^‘We will sit awhile and dream if you prefer 
it, while Maud and Richmond try a hand at the 
oars.” 

‘^What realized dreams flit before us as we re- 
member then and now ! Did ever an unknown locality 
grow into such world-wide fame in so short a time ? 
Dr. Rossville’s prophecies seemed baseless visions 
until you were cured, Charley ; and then we could 
understand the root of his enthusiasm. But the fulfil- 
ment has come sooner even than he dreamed.” 

“I think there is no parallel in history. We call 
it the miracle Spring, and sure enough it is, in the' 


292 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

swiftness of its growth as well as in the power of its 
healing waters.’^ 

“Watch the boats, Charley! I did not know 
Kichmond could pull so bravely. He is far ahead 
of the Pears ! Chautauqua, last year, gave him fine 
practice.” 

“ Maud has a strong and graceful stroke too. She 
has really improved her privilege in the ponds about 
Meadowville.” 

“ The circuit of this lake is quite an undertaking 
for an oarsman. Oh, they are coming about! The 
children will deem it a selfish pleasure while we sit 
on the shore.” 

“ The children know their mother prefers sitting on 
the shore, and they understand that the man whom 
the world calls Lawyer Eaynor is happiest where their 
mother is. They are coming about because time is 
short. The charms of the Hew Bethesda must soon 
be to us a thing of memory.” 

“ Eather a vision forever present in the strength and 
successful work which have built our happy home.” 

The rowers come to land at length, and the pedestri- 
ans turn homeward, stopping to rest under the balcony 
of the Spring and receive the refreshing always await- 
ing them there; then through the short wood-path, 
which was to Mrs. Eaynor like a dream of the fairy- 
land where she played in childhood. 

Through some unaccountable freak of the wires the 
telegram did not reach Mr. Winters. Day after day 
the Eaynors watched the in-coming coaches only to 
be disappointed. Maud’s and Eichmond’s sweet self- 
forgetting was likely to be unavailing. The first of 


TO EACH HIS PORTION. 


293 


September was fast drawing nigh, and many would 
then be obliged to seek their homes because of the 
opening of the public schools. 

''We cannot go until we meet the Winters and 
Nickersons, Charles, if we have to wait until Oc- 
tober ! 

"No waiting until October for me, this year, mother 
dear,’^ exclaims Maud. " I can hear the bleating of my 
lambs now, ' away on the mountains wild and bare ’ ! 
Nichmond and I must go without you, if your precious 
romance must be read to the very end.’’ 

"Not to the very end. Life is a romance; the real 
life of many who pass us daily.” 

'‘More like a tragedy to such people as the 
Winters.” 

" No, my daughter. A romance with tragic touches, 
like the painful summer fast ending.” 

"You and father can stay until winter and be com- 
fortable. The big fireplaces will warm the office ; your 
own snug room with its open glow, and the steam heat 
about the halls and parlors, will make you forget you 
are not in the Kaynor mansion at Meadowville. And 
then, you two have reached life’s pleasant afternoon, 
when you have a right to take it easy.” 

" I must stay until these expected friends appear. 
To deny Gertrude the confidence she promised me, 
would be a cruelty disgraceful to the Eaynor name. 

I don’t see but you and Eichmond will have to go 
without us, unless you can remain until the middle of 
September.” 

" Let us start next week, Maud, and see something 
of rock-ribbed New England on the way. Mt. Wash- 


294 THE EOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

ington, that we have looked at night after night in 
the shine of the sunset, is not slightly attractive to a 
young fellow. I should not in the least object to 
seeing it at short range. Let us go round by the 
White Mountains ! 

^^Yes, children; you shall do that. It will be a 
grand succession of views, but I doubt if any of them 
equal this.” 

“Isn’t father a trifle enthusiastic, for a man 
brought up in Quaker-land ? ” 

“ Maud, I am sorry you let that grim minister have 
the Sunday the ladies had set apart to you. Things 
have gone so far, — I mean there has been so much 
talk about it, — you cannot well leave now without 
conducting the service.” 

“ There • is one more Sunday, if we do go round by 
the mountains.” 

“ And you will not give your opportunity to some 
one else again?” 

“ I hope to be able to keep my promise.” 

“I wonder if that is Sicily talking with Dr. 

Eossville.” 

Mrs. Eaynor walks along the piazza to meet, not 
the rosy, sunny-faced girl who had attracted her 
attention twelve years before at the Old Stage Tavern, 
but a drawn face with sorrowful eyes, and a figure 
draped in widow’s weeds. She had toiled hard in 
narrow ways, and taken her bereavement heavily. 

“ I am glad to meet Miss Vinton once more,” said 
Mrs. Eaynor, in her nervous flurry at the vision of 
the changed face. 

“Not Miss Vinton, but the Widow Parks,” said 


TO EACH HIS PORTION. 295 

Sicily ; not enough of the former Miss Vinton for 
identification.’’ 

'' She ’s tired,” said Dr. Eossville. We shall chirk 
her up, and the red cheeks will come back again.” 

Oh, Mrs. Raynor,” exclaimed the Widow Parks, 

how do you retain the freshness of youth during so 
many years ? ” 

My life has been made easy and pleasant for me, 
dear old friend ! I know I am incomparably blessed ! ” 
and Mrs. Raynor walked swiftly toward the pines, 
that her tears might escape notice. To see such signs 
of toil and pain and sorrow, when the Lord had been 
so good to her, was a severe strain upon the sympa- 
thies of her tender heart. 

Looking down the road in the direction of the Old 
Stage Tavern, a singular vehicle was seen moving 
toward the New Bethesda House. One after another 
caught sight of it, and soon the piazzas swarmed with 
observers. A carryall with fringed canopy and shin- 
ing upholstery, drawn by a huge pair of oxen, soon 
stood in front of the hotel. The driver, equipped in 
the latest Brother Jonathan style, his tall white hat 
much battered, his overalls turned up at the bottom 
and partially caught in the tops of his boots, his gen- 
eral attitude a mixture of meekness and drollery, 
stood patiently holding his ox-goad. 

The guests began to whisper, “What is it ? What 
does it all mean ? ” and presently this story came out. 
On the day previous a gay party, some of them South- 
erners, had been to ride behind one of Mr. Rossville’s 
spans. On returning, the question was asked, “Will 
you want the team to-morrow ? ” 


296 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 


Yes/’ answered one of the gentlemen, bring out 
your oxen to-morrow at ten.” 

Punctual to the hour, Mr. Rossville, who though 
he enjoyed the joke saw an opportunity of turning it 
upon the perpetrators, had the oxen in waiting. Not 
to be outdone, the gay party climbed into the carry- 
all and had their ride behind real oxen. They did 
not go far, nor inflict a long absence upon the watch^ 
ing multitude, doubtless finding the difference be- 
tween the speed of the black span of yesterday and 
the red ones of to-day. This little episode brought 
Sicily from her corner, and something of the old vi- 
vacity touched her speech and lighted her care-worn 
face. 

On the following Monday, as the trunks of the 
young Raynors were receiving their finishing touches 
preparatory to the mountain passage, Richmond 
said, — 

You did not seem at all fiurried, Maud, and I saw 
any number of glasses levelled at you last evening.” 

I waited alone for my girding, and no mortal eyes 
could flurry me then.” 

Miss Vinton — I mean the Widow Parks — was 
greatly moved,” said Mrs. Raynor ; “ and she said it 
did not seem out of place at all. She had always 
thought it would.” 

‘^The words of that serene-faced lady from Port- 
land would outweigh all the levelled glasses, and 
the curiosity behind them,” observed Mr. Raynor. 
‘^When one has power to help life’s deepest need, he 
can afford to be unconscious of the sneer of the world- 
ling and the scrutiny of the curious.” 


TO EACH HIS PORTION. 


297 


Let us not talk about the service. It was a gift 
upon His altar, and He will take care of it. If it 
is used as a burnt-offering, the smoke of the incense 
may revive some faint heart who will go on with 
its load making no outward sign,’’ said the young 
minister. 

• ‘‘ Have you seen Marshall to-day ? ” . 

Oh, yes. He asked my pardon for suggesting that 
I content myself with the prayer-meetings and the 
missions. He said God had as evidently called me as 
him. I stopped him. I could not listen to all he 
wanted to say. How he has grown since we first heard 
him sing ^ My Ain Countrie ’ ! 

Have you made all your farewells, children ? 

I have none to make, except to Mr. Rossville and 
the housekeeper,^’ said Richmond. 

I parted with Susie and Helen last evening,” said 
Maud. I felt a trifle solemn, dear mother. It seemed 
to me I was making my last farewells to the dear old 
place.” 

You are young, and may come many times ; I want 
you to go off cheerfully.” 

“ Cheerfully, mother, whether it be life or death.” 

Look here, Maud I you are altogether too pathe- 
tic. You will have to stay another month, and take 
my tramp and athletic lessons all over again,” said 
Richmond. 

Miss Raynor tried to get possession of her usual 
light-heartedness, with poor success. The service had 
evidently been a strain upon her nerves which she 
had not measured ; and then Mr. Marshall’s surrender 
of all he had ever stipulated, throwing all responsi- 


298 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

bility upon her decision, had weighed down her spirits 
unexpectedly. 

But the farew*ells about the office were lightly made, 
and a smiling face looked back from the departing 
coach. Mr. Marshall was not among the observers. 
Just where he was only a clairvoyant could see. No 
terror of dewy bushes or water-soaked pine-needles 
stood in the way of a plunge into the darkest heart 
of the woods. If he berated himself for taking the 
air of a bargain into his relations with Maud Raynor, 
only the invisible Spirit ever knew. 


THE UPPEE CALM. 


299 


CHAPTER XXYII. 

THE UPPER CALM. 

OWARD the end of the week Mr. and Mrs. 



X Winters were seen at the breakfast-table. They 
had come on the late coach and gone right to their 
room, suffering such weariness as only the prolonged 
strain of sickness and watching can occasion. 

Dr. Rossville met them with his assuring promise 
of the invigorating water ; and hope, which had gained 
some little vantage-ground on account of the improved 
conditions, plumed its wings for still farther flights. 
It was painful to all the old friends to see Raynold 
Winters depending on his wife’s arm and a cane. His 
had been the erect carriage along these familiar paths, 
and the strength that bore burdens for others. He 
crept slowly, and Cornelia waited his time. Xo forlorn 
female imposed the weight of her Moses ” upon him 
now. He would have felt the additional weight of a 
feather. As he met his former summer companions 
and fell into chats about the many who had come to this 
height trembling on the verge of despair and were now 
doing life’s work as restored and vigorous men, Mrs. 
Winters found her opportunity to pour out her heart 
to Mrs. Raynor. She told her of the dead summer 
when sleep forsook the room which imprisoned them, 


300 THE KOMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

driven thence by unconquerable pain and a deathless 
sympathy; of the first pitiful essay upon crutches, 
when the limb hung as a useless member, and there 
was no hope that it would ever be otherwise ; of the 
strong help which came determined to overcome the 
menacing weakness, and the joy which made the whole 
house like vibrating bells when the prophecy was ful- 
filled, “ The crooked shall be made straight.” 

Oh, the days which followed ! they were like a 
new heaven and a new earth, Mrs. E-aynor. Joy over- 
flowed in thanksgiving for the restoration. He could 
walk without the crutches, and hope said strength 
would heal the limp. For two whole weeks we were 
alone. Everybody thought we had come here, and we 
were utterly alone. He could not walk out without 
me, and we were constantly together ; and oh, Mrs. 
Eaynor, he said they were the happiest days of his 
whole life ! Every day he would ask me if it was very 
hard to take all the steps about the house, and I would 
answer no ; and my joy was so great I thought I could 
endure it forever. Daily we waited for the telegram, 
and walked or rode or read together, wishing the days 
a thousand hours long ; but I seemed to fail. I be- 
came utterly brain-weary ; and then I said our people 
would think he had wasted his opportunity if we failed 
to visit the New Bethesda. I concealed my own con- 
dition, making no personal plea, and we started at 
once. He seemed to see everything as I did, but the 
journey tired him fearfully. And I, — why, I could 
sleep forever if he did not need me in his walks.” 

There was a handwriting on Cornelia’s face which 
had never been there before. Mrs. Eaynor read it 


THE UPPEE CALM. 


801 


with great heart-throbs of pity, and yet glad that the 
pen was broken which had made the painful scars. 
Xhey talked about Arena’s children. It was well with 
them. Paul was doing successful missionary work at 
the West, and the others rested in a cottage by the 
sea. Mabel had her plans, and had entered the opening 
way. It was a severe way, a rugged hill she had set 
herself to climb ; but she was resolute, sustained by the 
strength of youth. 

Pay after day these friends, drawn close to each other 
by a sacred memory, met in the haunts of the New 
Bethesda. The minister was improving; he always 
gained strength and power on these everlasting hills. 
And as he grew in power and faith the lines on Cor- 
nelia’s face were less noticeable. 

And then, one day Kobert and Gertrude came. 
Prom San Francisco to Kingdom Station seemed a 
weary way to Kate, who thought Meadowville far 
enough off, now that she was separated from all her 
children. She expected Gertrude would need days of 
rest before she could seek the beechen chair to tell 
her friend the sequel where she had told the beginnings. 
What was her surprise when Mrs. Nickerson came to 
her the very next day after her arrival, equipped for a 
walk. 

“ Come, Mrs. Kaynor,” said she, “ I cannot meet you 
on terms of ease with myself until we have had our 
talk.” 

I know it is well with you, Gerty, by the peace on 
your face and Robert’s. It is deeper than any heart- 
sign ever visible before.” 

How we conquered the peace I want you to know, 


302 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

you who were such wise counsellors when I stood on 
the verge of wreck. We will talk alone, but you must 
tell your lawyer all about it.’’ 

Mrs. Kaynor excused herself to her husband, who 
would find enough to do in bracing up the invalids 
whom he was forever seeking out, and walked away 
with her friend. 

“ I left Kobert sleeping. He had such tiresome 
days settling our affairs for a final leave-taking, that he 
is quite worn out. We can rest now. We can afford 
to rest. Eobert has been dealing in real estate, and 
the gains have been beyond expectation. We shall 
stay in one of the Boston suburbs, not in the brick- 
walled city. We know a hill at the Highlands, where 
we hope to build our home. Do you care about weav- 
ing the chair ? I can hardly wait.” 

“ These rocks will furnish us seats. They are moss- 
grown.” 

I suppose they will not be quite so comfortable as 
the clinging limbs which held us lang syne.” 

A divergence from the path anywhere will give us 
the seclusion we desire. Here are young beeches. We 
need not go farther.” 

They part the tangles and make their way a few rods 
from the path, and soon white lithe fingers are weav- 
ing the supple branches after the fashion of the time 
of tears. It is swift work, and a repaying task. . Like 
children in a swing they look, as they sit together 
holding the live ropes. 

^WYe will not say anything about Eobert’s feelings, 
or the terror which almost paralyzed him when I went 
to you with my heavy heart and he found his home 


THE UPPER CALM. 


303 

left unto him desolate. You remember the letter 
which I read to you years ago. That letter painted 
accurately the real Robert. He is kindness itself ; but 
he IS so made up that he cannot see both sides of the 
shield. I think I understand him fully now. Minnie 
Swan, the wife of a poor man in a strange city, ap- 
pealing to him as the only one whom she knew, struck 
the bed-rock of his pity. Her father’s case was lost 
through him. He blamed himself as in a measure 
culpable for Minnie’s forlorn condition. So he an- 
swered her flattering letters, and ' braced her up,’ as he 
called it, in every way possible. Minnie was but a 
poor housekeeper, and her husband had everything 
to discourage him. They were living beyond their 
means, and when I met them riding, Robert was tak- 
ing her to the outskirts of the city to show her cheaper 
tenements. 

I had been hurt by a past which had been con- 
doned, and he hoped to keep Minnie’s presence in the 
city a secret. 

“ Poor Robert knows little about keeping secrets. It 
is his nature to be open as the day. Had he burned 
the silly letters instead of leaving them about for me 
to destroy, he might have kept it from me longer. 
But wrong is its own destroyer. Honest Sammy 
French, ransacking his wife’s bureau for a clean collar, 
came across a bundle of letters tied with ribbon and 
marked, ^ I prize them.’ He put them in his pocket 
and started down town, forgetting about the needed 
linen. He read them every one. They were the 
* bracing ’ letters of Robert Nickerson. They revealed 
the past acquaintance, and maddened him with jeal- 


304 THE EOMANCE OP THE NEW BETHESDA. 

ousy. When he reached home at evening he was in 
a white hfiat, and Minnie had to cringe and quail un- 
der his condemnation and his threats. Nothing but 
a separation should answer for the wife who had in- 
vited such a correspondence, and it should come as 
quickly as California laws would allow! Poor Min- 
nie, face to face with herself as interpreted by an en- 
raged husband, was in mortal terror. She fled from 
the house and came to us for succor. This occurred 
just after my return from Meadowville four years ago. 
She told her story, crouching at my feet and begging 
my intercession on her behalf. She seemed so weak 
and pitiable, as she trembled in fear of her husband’s 
just indignation, that the Strength Invincible girded 
me, and I bade her rise, and I would go with her to 
her home. Eobert had not returned from his office, 
and I left a note for him with the servants. 

Mr. French was raving from room to room when we 
entered. As he saw me he stopped with a look of in- 
quiry. ‘ I have come to talk with you,’ I said. ‘ I am 
the wife of Eobert Nickerson.’ 

^ I pity you 1 ’ said he ; and the tense nerves gave 
way, and he wept like a child. Then he unfolded the 
letters, reading them one after another to me, and em- 
phasizing the praiseful passages. ‘ How do you bear 
it and keep so calm ? ’ said he. Then I took the law- 
yer’s stand and pleaded for Eobert. In that exalted 
mood I could do it. I said that Mr. Nickerson, though 
a lawyer, was a humanitarian, and a very kind-hearted 
man. He had been so much in the habit of pleading 
at the bar that he was doubtless one-sided in his views 
and extravagant in the use of terms. Then, he never 


THE UPPEE CALM. 


305 


liked to be outdone. If he answered a letter, his own 
expressions must be as emphatic as those he had 
received. 

There s the curse of it ! ’ said French^ his rage as- 
serting itself. ^ She has been writing to him ! She 
wrote first, I dare swear ! ' I tried to cool him down 
by showing him the intimacy brought about by the 
lost lawsuit. Minnie had seen a great deal of Eob- 
ert. She was in a strange city, without friends, and I 
suppose needed somebody. ^She had her husband. 
She did not need letters from some other woman’s 
husband ! ’ he exclaimed, clenching his fists. Through 
all this scene Minnie sat trembling and sobbing. At 
this point Eobert came in, apprehending some out- 
burst from my hurried note. Mr. French flew at him 
like a tiger. I slipped between them, and told Eobert 
the situation. 

‘^<Look here, young man,’ said he, ^your wife can 
sue for divorce from such a tigerish temper, and I ’ll 
help her win her case ; but you have no case against 
her.’ 

The presence of a masculine equal though it was 
the man whose kind attentions had wrought his rage, 
calmed him somewhat j then I went on : ^ Suppose it 
is all wrong, this correspondence, — and I am not one to 
call it right, — is it not better to forgive, than to walk 
the way of ruin the rest of our days ? ’ Then poor 
Minnie crept to my feet and said, ^ You will forgive 
me, will you not ? I did not know I was doing wrong.’ 

^ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
do,’ I said in answer. 

^ Can you forgive all this underhanded business ’ ? 

20 


306 THE ROMANCE OF THE NEW BETHESDA. 

said Mr. French. ^Now that my forgiveness is 
craved, I can. No one should dare refuse the plea of 
a penitent.’ 

^ Oh, Sammy, if Mrs. Nickerson can forgive, you 
can ! It was worse for her, because it began years 
ago.’ 

“ ^ Swear to me that you will never write another 
sentimental letter to a man, married or single ! ” said 
the not softened husband. ‘Nickerson will let you 
alone if you mind your own business. He does not 
want to be bothered with you.’ 

“ ‘ I promise I will never write another letter to 
Eobert Nickerson. And now, dear Sammy, will you 
take away your disgraceful threat of a divorce ? ’ 

“ Sammy promised he would. We had paved the 
way for a reconciliation, and thought it best to leave 
them to themselves. The next day a note came say- 
ing they should leave the city at once, and we should 
never see them or hear from them again. 

“ How they are working out their salvation I know 
not. Probably the bitter draught was not yet quaffed 
to the very dregs, and days of pain yet remained for 
them. They were small -souled and untaught; the 
Christian joy of pardon far off ; the peaceful seas 
awaiting the lull of repeated tempests. 

“ Eobert’s cases have been such as he could plead 
in open court since that terrific night when his wife 
attempted to save him from the rage of jealousy, and 
he has been a model of affectionate faithfulness.” 

“ Oh, Gertrude, the sunlit hills at last ! I knew you 
would reach them, for you deserve the upper calm, and 
the light of stormless skies.” 


THE UPPER CALM. 


SOT 


^‘But I suppose the mystery will be about us 
life-long, why the innocent must forever suffer with 
and for the guilty. I have inflicted my pain upon 
you.” 

And you have lent me your conquered peace.” 

The battle has been long, and the victory slow of 
coming. Such painful misunderstandings menace us ! 
We see with such differing eyes ! ” 

The great world of thought and emotion represented 
by the Kew Bethesda House revolved in its regular 
orbit as before, none knowing through what fiery seas 
the calmest souls of all the company had passed into 
peace. Gertrude was still beautiful Gertrude to the 
many and the few ; but by what different standards 
was this verdict reached ! They who saw her in the 
great halls or about the grounds noted her wealth of 
soft hair, her pure complexion, her sky-lit eyes. Mr. 
and Mrs. Bay nor were not blind to external beauty, 
but to them had been given the vision that sees be- 
hind the veil. The grace of loving pardon overflow- 
ing from a heart taught to judge by the Christian 
standards shone in her serene face and glorified the 
coils of her abundant hair. She had taught Kobert 
the frailty of human reliance, and his later vows rec- 
ognized the Omnipotent Helper, through whom he 
hoped to stand without spot and unblamable. As 
they strolled about the old haunts, there were voices 
in the pines above them, and the dead needles be- 
neath their feet inspiring anew each chastened purpose 
to build after the high ideals ^^as the swift seasons 
roll.” The days were wrought of unseen elements, 
shaping and guiding these lives so slow in finding 


308 THE ROMANCE OE THE NEW BETHESDA. 

love’s supreme adjustment ; and not the halcyon dawn 
so sweet as these hours which saw the high noon 
pressing near. 

Influence radiates from every realm, and the sensi- 
tive spirit feels its humblest touch ; but when lives 
press ours which have followed closely the Christ 
ideal, though they may feel no virtue go out of them, 
we feel an increase of power to arise and follow over 
the same shining ways. Mr. and Mrs. Raynor were 
a tower of reviving strength to Robert Nickerson ; 
and Gertrude looked upon them as privileged beings 
whom God had spared the shame of great lapses from 
righteousness. They were much together, and when 
the Winters could be once more among the restored 
and happy, the three pairs might have been seen 
walking and talking together, or waiting the angel’s 
help by the side of the New Bethesda. 

The summer warmth was being chilled by early 
frosts, and the hammock became a thing of yester- 
day. As the Raynors packed away this little net of 
comfort, remembering how it had swayed in the soft 
winds of four happy summers^ just a shiver of pain 
accompanied the thought that perhaps never a'gain 
would the pines about the New Bethesda whisper 
lullabies to them. Uncertainty broods over the out- 
look of all mortals, and after life’s high noon comes its 
declining sun. But the great wood-fires made amends 
for the loss of summer warmth, and groups of friends 
talked as confidently in the ear of the flames as under 
the whispering pines. Here the prophets sat and told 
the story of the miracle Spring, past, present, and to 
come. 


THE UPPER CALM. 


309 

Only one third of the people who have asked to 
come here this season have been accommodated/’ said 
the young landlord to Mr. Winters. 

Cover the hill with hotels and cottages, and they 
will all be full,” was the confident answer. 

No change of season can obliterate the handwriting 
of Providence on these helpful hills. Forever the 
Eternal Voice is ^ calling His* children to come up 
higher, and the elixir in rarefied air proves the value 
of obedience to this call, even in its earthly mean- 
ings. And who that has passed from the low places 
of sin into the heights of righteousness, but has 
learned the greatness of Divine leadership, and been 
ready to acknowledge its redemptive power ? 

Beauty will brood above the heights, healing will 
flow from the New Bethesda, whether the old lovers 
look again toward the sunset from this tower of 
strength, or tarry in the vales of Meadowville. 

God’s good work will go on, though His ministers 
faint and fail amid the exactions of a critical age. 

The ideal home, which the Baynors come nearest 
to realizing, shall rear its enduring walls where now 
so many crumbling huts of untruth and doubt dis- 
flgure the smiling earth. For God is God, and 
man was created in His image ; and Kingdom Station 
shall at length unlock the gates of the Kingdom of 
Peace. 


THE END. 


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